The Crimson Blossom
by SakuraBlizzard20
Summary: Sakura was out of options. Maybe if she hadn't been so weak, she could have saved him. Weakness lead her to her breaking point, and she couldn't watch as her other friends died. She had to get stronger. She had to. The good path would only get you so far, and who better to train under than Itachi Uchiha. -ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE-
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Naruto, its characters, and its plot belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I in no way claim any of the characters or canon story, however the new plot this story revolves around solely belongs to me. This is not intended to be copyrighted in anyway, and is only for use of entertainment on fan fiction.**

**Title: **The Crimson Blossom

**Author**: SakuraBlizzard20

This story should not contain any spoilers that will affect the actual canon storyline, this story is personally developed by me with added features out of personal desire. This story is rated M for romance, violence and sexual scenes, viewer discretion is advised.

**A/N**: Hey there! Now that we've got all that technical stuff out of the way, I'm going to share my first chapter of the new ItaSaku fanfic I will be working on (: It has been quite a while since I have written fan fiction, so im going to attempt to get back in the flow of it. Hang in there while I break back into the Naruto world and please review, they are truly appreciated. If you are further interested in this story after this chapter, please put it on a watch or favorite list, because the name of the story may change as it progresses.

Enjoy!

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The night was dark and eerie. Shadows hid behind every tree and bush, golden eyes pierced through the thick darkness and scurried away when an unknown presence came near. Leaves rustled and sticks broke as both big and small animals ran around her, curious of the yellow and orange flame that danced in the dark, but careful not to get too close in case it was a trap.

She picked up a long stick and poked at the hot fire pit overturning a few logs. Owls hooted in the nearby tree tops, watching her as if they were watching a prey. She ignored them. She was only engulfed in her own inner thoughts and tried to shake off any guilt that may have cloaked itself around her.

She tucked a few strands of pink hair behind her ear and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Her emerald eyes stared into the fire as if there were some secret answer within the charcoaled logs that were burning. Was she doing the right thing? Would she regret her choice days from now? Had she truly realized what she had gotten herself into?

If she turned back around, it would not be too late. She could sneak back into the village just as easily as she had snuck out. She could go to her home and slip into bed, awake in the morning, and pretend this never happened. Like it was all a part of some distant dream.

Her friends would soon find out she was missing. Five or six hours from now, they would look for her. They would search frantically, worried something may have happened to her. Then they would notice the signs. No forced entry into her home. Her belongings were gone. They would realize what happened to her.

She voluntarily left them.

She shook her head. She would not allow herself to feel regret for her choice. She had thought long and hard about it, often going back and forth on the pros and cons of the situation she would get herself in. She knew that once she stepped foot outside of those big hidden leaf gates, there would be no going back.

She was going to be labeled a missing-nin in a few hours. She would accept the title willingly, full aware of the choice she had made.

Sakura reached to her backpack that laid next to her in the dirt. She unzipped it and pulled out a thin black blanket, wrapping it around her shoulders. She pulled it to her chin and rubbed her face against it, realizing that she would go through many dark and lonely nights like this. By herself. Alone, without any companions.

She had never truly been alone in the blinding darkness like this. Every time she had spent the night in the woods, Naruto had always been with her. He would look at her with that big, goofy smile and yell, "Goodnight Sakura!" and she would roll her eyes and complain about how obnoxious he was. Then he would toss and turn all night, snoring and drooling, waking her up several times throughout their resting time.

She almost wanted to see him rolling around and snoring right now, but that was another feeling she wouldn't allow herself to have. Not anymore.

_You're not allowed to miss him or them. Not anybody. _She thought. _You're on your own now. Time to be a big girl and make a path of your own. _

A small glare caught the corner of her eye as she brought herself out of her thoughts. She turned to see the glare coming from her backpack, it was slightly sticking out. She reached over and grabbed the source, pulling out her headband. The metal hidden leaf symbol reflected the dancing flames in front of her.

She stared at it, memories immediately flooding her mind of her entire life up until this point. Good memories, like the first time team seven was assigned together. How excited she was that she was put on the same team as Sasuke Uchiha, the local heartthrob every girl dreamed of.

The bad memories came pouring after even thinking of Sasukes name. The night he left the village to go to Orochimaru. The frantic training and searching to try and bring him back. The promise Naruto had made to her echoed in her head and how she trusted him to follow his word. But that promise was never fulfilled.

Sasuke was never going to be saved. The moment he left those gates, his fate was decided.

Sakura remembered how it felt when she received the news from Lady Tsunade. How her heart jumped into her throat and her legs gave out. She could still almost taste the vomit in her mouth from that day. She could still hear Narutos violent sobs and curses, his thrashing and violently hitting and kicking anything in his path. The look of the ANBU as they had to physically remove Naruto from her office and sedate him. The look on his face that day would forever remain as an imprint on her memory. The two of them were never the same after that day and they never would be again.

She closed her eyes and gripped the headband in her hands. The smooth metal grinded into her palms and provided discomfort, but her mind was elsewhere. She wanted to curse herself for bringing up that memory now. The saddened look on the Hokages face that day, the thought of Naruto almost physically out of control, her own tears soaking her face until she fell asleep from exhaustion. That was not something she could think of now.

But it reminded her of why she was doing this.

She opened her eyes and stared at the leaf symbol. _Forgive me, _she thought. _Naruto, forgive me for this. _

She shoved the headband back in her backpack before she would allow herself to get anymore emotional. She clutched onto the blanket again, surrounding herself with any warmth it might provide her to protect her from the night chill. The fire in front of her was beginning to get low, but she didn't make any movement to try and save the flames. Once it went out, she would have to move on. She knew she could not stay here long, she had to get out of the land of fire before they realized she was gone and would come looking for her.

She could not be forced to go back and she did not want to fight her friends. She would rather them never find her, so she never be forced to see them again. It was the cowards way out, she knew that of course. But it was better this way. It would be better if they would just forget about her someday.

With a large gust of wind, the remaining dim flames blew out, leaving her in utter darkness. She sighed as she quickly shoved the blanket back in her backpack and slipped her arms into the straps. She would not rest until the sun came up. By then, she should be out of Fire country.

She buckled the strap on her backpack around her waist so it would be secure while traveling. She stepped on the fire pit to ensure every flame was out and there was no chance of it coming up again. Sakura then began throwing leaves and sticks over it in attempt to hide the evidence she was there. She would have to cover her tracks to keep Konoha ninja off of her trail until she got far enough away from them.

Once her camp was covered up to her liking, she sprinted up the nearest tree using chakra control on her feet. She ran up until she got midway, then stopped to acknowledge her surroundings. She would continue north. If she stayed on a straight path, she would soon be beyond the border in a few hours.

Crickets chirped in the night along with many other unidentified insects. Their music was a blur to her as she sprinted amongst the tree tops, landing on limbs, and careful of her step in the darkness. Her hair whipped into her face as she ran, which she knew would happen once she took off her headband.

But she would not wear it. It was a disgrace against her former home and she could not bring herself to wear it now.

_Forgive me, Naruto, _her thoughts echoed in her mind_, You will never understand._

She gripped onto her straps and sped up, chakra gathering at her feet. She knew where she would go once she made it across the border. It would take her only a matter of days to reach her destination. She did not care how tired she would be once she made it there. She just had to find him.

_I'm forming my own path. I am strong and will prove myself. _Her thoughts echoed in her head and heart.

The creatures of the night sang their songs as she ran.

_I have to find him. _

The stars shone bright and reflected above her with every step.

_This is who I am now. _

Owls continued to call in the night.

_Forgive me, Naruto…_

A tear disappeared into the darkness as the full moon above her lit her way through the night.

_We will never be the same._

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**A/N: It's a short chapter, but it's the introduction to the story. The other chapters will be much longer. I throughly hope you enjoyed it and it has peaked your interest.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: A big shout out to crimson dragonx for my very first review on this story. It helps when I get reviews so I know how I am doing. Please continue to review if you enjoy it!**

**I got excited, so I went ahead and wrote this next chapter. I will not be on a update schedule like some authors do, but I will update as frequently as I can. Also I wanted to note that throughout the story, we will be seeing the story revolve around both Sakura and Itachi. Viewpoints will switch from time to time in 3****rd**** person. I hope you continue to enjoy this story.**

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The orange and yellow orb over the treetops indicated to Sakura that it was sunrise. Her legs ached from running for hours without rest, but she was satisfied now that she crossed the border of fire country just ten minutes ago.

She was now in foreign territory that no longer belonged to the land of fire. She was fully aware that up until this point, running had been extremely manageable and easy. However, once she stepped into new land, she realized her journey would be much more difficult from this point. She would have to worry about nearby villages and other unknown ninjas. She was, of course, more than capable of defending herself in the situation of an attack, but she would have to be more careful from now on. In the event of an ambush, she would have no chance at succeeding. To prevent any likelihood of an attack, she would have to cover her tracks and be mindful of staying out in open areas for an extended amount of time.

She temporarily rested along a river bank, running water through her hair and patting her face to do away with sweat. Once she felt refreshed, she reached into her pack and took two brown food pills and a few sips of water from her jug. The water ran down her throat, immediately soothing its current dry and scratchy state. She hadn't brought much food with her-a choice she regretted now-to prevent her pack from weighing her down, since she had all of her useful belongings as well. Since she was low on sustenance, she would have to stop at an inn for rest and food. Sakura had limited cash on her as well, so she did not plan on taking too much time away from her true goal.

She planned to scope out his trail soon and find him.

Although her body ached for her to stop, she continued on until she had met the end of the forest.

She was greeted with a main road for traveling between villages. It was empty; not that she was surprised. Main roads like this were often only used by traders and salesmen. Bandits and ninjas often tried to stay hidden in the forest like she was currently doing. Sakura knew she would have to alternate between the road and the forest for travel to avoid anyone tracking her movements or spying on her. She realized she may be being overly paranoid, but she also knew word would get out quick of her missing status from Konoha. No doubt any neighboring lands would be notified and she would soon be out for reward money if returned to the leaf village. She could not be too cautious and would allow herself to feel safe.

She was a rouge now, and a rouge ninja always had enemies.

She quickened her pace down the road.

* * *

The terms "annoying" and "obnoxious" came to mind as he sat through his current situation. He sat quietly as he listened to two supposedly "S rank criminals" bicker back and forth like an old married couple.

"I should have gone on this mission, un!" The blond boy exclaimed rather loudly. "Nobody here is better than me at surprise attacks. One flight on my bird and I could have blown the entire place up, un!"

What an annoying child he was.

"That is exactly the point of why you weren't chosen," the blue skinned shinobi remarked, "The point of the mission is to _investigate quietly_. You are too trigger happy. Sending you would be like putting a bull in a china shop! You would have gotten yourself ambushed and killed if you went in blowing everything up!"

He was right, of course, but the mere fact he was trying to argue with this nineteen year old child was almost equivalent to arguing with a brick wall. It was irritating that he, although certainly aware of his stubbornness, still continued to try and win the quarrel.

The two organization members were obviously referring to the mission that Pain had addressed to them in a group meeting an hour before this argument escalated. Pain had assigned himself and Konan to go investigate a rumor that the sound village were doubling their forces in attempt to regain power that had been recently lost with the death of Orochimaru. Kabuto is rumored to remain alive and may be the leader of this sudden gain of power. It was also rumored that the sound may also attempt to capture the remaining tailed beasts to use for their advantage, furthermore leaving the Akatsuki weaker in comparison. Unable to determine whether or not this rumor is true, Pain decided to further investigate it himself. One of the Akatsuki's goals is to weaken other villages for the long term of their goal, and the sound village would not be allowed to exceed.

However, rather than supporting Pain and Konan trying to determine if this situation was true or false, Deidara was throwing a childlike tantrum.

"Yeah, or Deidara-Senpai would have blown himself up!" the ninja, with far too much enthusiasm, exclaimed beside him.

"Shut up, Tobi!" Deidara slammed his hands on the table, veins popping out of his neck and his face turning a light shade of red. "I wouldn't have gotten ambushed if everyone was blown up beforehand. My man Sasori could have taken out anyone easily by my side. We were the obvious team for this." Deidara looked over at the stilled red head who sat quietly in the corner alone. "Right, Sasori?" he indicated for backup from his teammate.

Sasori sat calmly with his arms crossed, disinterest in the current topic was plastered on his eternally young facial features. "I do not see the importance of who goes or who stays…" Sasori replied flatly. "As long as the mission is completed and we are not kept waiting." Sasori met Deidara's eye contact. "You both are acting childish."

Annoyance spread across both Deidara and Kisame's already enraged faces.

"I'm just saying," Deidara turned back to Kisame to refrain himself from shooting off at Sasori. He tried to pretend otherwise, but it was fully evident that Sasori intimidated him. "I'm tired of the little kid missions, un. I want to catch a big beast…like the nine tails!" Deidara smirked and tilted his head as if he were imagining the victory of containing such a beast. "Now…that would really be enough to make a man feel powerful and alive!"

Itachi shook his head. As if Deidara had the capabilities of performing such a task without assistance.

"You might as well forget about it, kid," Kisame barked back. "The nine tails is assigned to Itachi and I. We'll be the ones to tame that brat." Kisame smiled at the thought of that annoying kid being silenced once and for all.

Deidara laughed sarcastically at Kisame's words. "If he were my mission, I would have gotten that kid ages ago. Unlike you two, Sasori and I get things done."

"Like you got the one tail?" Tobi chuckled to himself. "You and Sasori-Senpai almost didn't make it out of that one!"

Sasori's eyes shot to Tobi. "Shut up, Tobi. Before you get yourself killed." his voice was firm and dark.

He was clearly referring to when the Akatsuki were extracting the one tailed from the current Kazekage and much to everyone's surprise, Sasori's grandmother appeared to try and save him. She almost fatally wounded Sasori in the battle, and sacrificed her own life to bring back the Jinchuriki's. Deidara had been preoccupied with fellow sand shinobi and was unable to provided aid to Sasori. Once they were able, they both retreated from the battle and the sand village retrieved their Kazekage. It was rather annoying that the old woman would sacrifice herself for someone such as the one tail host, but it was not concerning. Without the one tail, he was of no interest.

"What did you say!" Deidara got into the masked shinobi's face. "I will _kill _you, Tobi!"

"That is enough from you both," Itachi spoke for the first time since all the bickering had began. He was getting rather annoyed at the loudness and immaturity present.

"Itachi, let me take him outside for a few minutes," Kisame clenched his teeth as he grabbed the handle on his obnoxiously large sword. "I'll teach him to keep his mouth shut for a while."

"You act like children," Sasori remarked as he slowly arose from his chair. "Kill each other if you wish, but I will not clean up the mess." the red head exited the room without a single care for either of them.

Sasori was usually like that; Quiet and private without any regard for the other organization members. It may be why Itachi personally thought he was the most tolerable of the other nine members.

Deidara's face sunk. "He's always got a stick up his ass, un." He shook his head and turned to Kisame. "I don't have time for this. I'm going to go practice my new jutsu I've been working on since its obvious I'll be stuck without a mission for a while." he walked past Kisame, purposely bumping his shoulder in the process. He turned and smirked as he exited the room.

Kisame's eye began to twitch slightly from fury as he took his hand off of his sword. "One day, that kid is going to catch me in the wrong mood…" he uttered more to himself than to Itachi and Tobi.

Tobi turned to Itachi enthusiastically. "We should go train too, Itachi-Senpai!" he exclaimed. "We can practice jutsu's together!"

The mere thought of being around Tobi more than necessary sounded like hell to him. He was far to uppity and energized for Itachi's liking. Of the other members, he was the most _intolerable_.

"I train alone," Itachi rose from his chair. "I do not need the company of others while honing my own abilities."

Tobi let out a disappointed sigh, then turned to Kisame, "Then we will train, Kisame-Senpai?" his voice held hope.

"Not on your life," Kisame remarked as he turned and exited the room. Kisame seemed to dislike Tobi even more than Itachi.

Tobi crossed his arms and slumped down into his chair. "Nobody wants to train with Tobi…" he mumbled to himself. It still amazed Itachi that someone with such strong childlike characteristics earned enough favor with Pain to become a part of such a serious organization. Although everyone in the Akatsuki did not particularly care for Tobi's personal traits, he met every expectation work wise with the organization. Everything else from him was merely tolerated.

Leaving the pouting shinobi alone in the room, Itachi exited and made his way down the hallway of the current Akatsuki compound. He personally enjoyed this compound, it possessed a very large training ground outside and each members personal rooms were a bit nicer than some of the ones they had lived in prior. He knew it would not last long, however, since the Akatsuki only stayed in one place at maximum a month. They traveled to different compounds frequently to avoid anyone tracking them and finding their hideout.

He knew it was necessary to do this. It better served them to complete their main goal quicker if they had little to no interferences. However, he almost hoped that one day after their goal was met, they would stay in one spot. Contrary to what others may believe, Itachi was a simple person. He did not enjoy mindlessly taking lives that were not necessary like his teammates. He very much enjoyed a calm environment where he was alone. He silently hoped he would have an environment of that nature one day. And perhaps, he could even make a home for himself.

But that was his own hidden desire.

* * *

Sakura continued traveling despite her weariness. She continued throughout the day, from sunrise to sunset, until she found an inn she deemed worthy to spend the night in. It was an old hole-in-the-wall building that did not draw very much attention. It was not in a spacious place, so she assured herself it would be safe to rest the night in.

She stepped inside and was greeted by an elderly woman who was much shorter than her. Her white hair was tied into a tight bun and she wore a purple robe with brown sandals. She smiled as Sakura approached the desk.

"Welcome, dear. You look very exhausted," her voice was soft and kind. "Can I show you to a room?"

"For one night only, please." Sakura nodded as she searched for the wallet in her backpack to pay the woman.

She felt around for her wallet, but did not find it right away. She pushed belongings aside, but was still unable to feel the rectangular wallet that held her funds.

Worried she may have forgotten it at a resting place, she began taking things out and setting them on the desk to further look for it. "I am sorry, it seems I have misplaced my wallet. One moment, please," she apologized to the woman as she scurried around quickly for her belonging.

She placed a newspaper like sheet on the desk in front of the old woman, and the picture on the front caught her eye.

She picked up the paper and squinted at it. Her old wrinkled face grimaced as she asked, "You know this man?"

This brought Sakura's attention away from her current task and looked at the paper the old woman was holding up. It revealed the picture of the person she was looking for.

Curiosity filled her. "Do you know him?" she quickly asked the inn keeper.

She shook her head, "No, I do not know him personally…but he and another person came by just last night." she grimaced again as she gave the paper back to Sakura. "They made quite a ruckus and ran off without paying for the room they stayed in. A bunch of ruffians or bandits, I assumed. I was lucky they left before anyone or myself was hurt."

That sounded exactly like the one she was looking for.

"Where did they head?" Sakura asked flatly.

"Are you looking for them?"

"Yes. I have business with that man." Sakura replied.

The woman's face sunk. "A child like you should have no business with people like that."

Sakura ignored that comment. "Can you point me in the direction they went?"

"They headed towards the land of rice patties," the inn keeper answered. "I never heard of what their business there was. But I'm sure its no good, whatever they are up to."

"Thank you," Sakura bowed her head in respect, began throwing her things back in her bag-on top of the wallet she had just found-and threw her backpack over her shoulders.

The woman looked surprised, "You're not going to rest?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry, I have to catch up to them. Thank you for your information."

The old innkeeper hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Be careful out there." she called as Sakura ran out the door.

_Finally,_ Sakura thought to herself as she began sprinting quickly alongside the dirt road, _They are ahead of me, but if I hurry and keep my eyes opened for signs, I may be able to track them. _

Sakura focused chakra on the bottoms of her feet to help her speed excel. Once she found them, her new life would truly begin.

* * *

Sakura ran throughout the night and into the next morning, only temporarily stopping for a breath. She had attempted to stop at a ramen shop for a quick bite-she only had three food pills left that she wanted to save for emergencies-but quickly reconsidered her choice when she saw a photo of herself on the outside wall of the store.

Word had officially got out that she was a missing-nin.

The poster had her picture on it, missing-nin under the photograph, and the words REWARD WILL BE GIVEN BY HIDDEN LEAF HOKAGE IF RETURNED ALIVE.

And under that statement it read: BOUNTY WILL BE REWARDED HANDSOMELY.

She knew word would get around quick, but she had no idea it would get around this fast. She would definitely have to watch her movements more closely from this point on.

Although seeing the poster with her face on it was discouraging, she refocused on her current task. She was pleased with herself that she managed to find enough evidence of their tracks left behind, and was able to follow them effortlessly. Those very few tracking lessons from Kakashi were currently paying off.

Sakura knew she was getting close when the tracks began getting stronger. Before, they were faint from obvious elements of nature, but they were there. These tracks were fresh, meaning they had not been touched by nature yet. That meant she was drawing near.

She decided it would be best to continue on their trail through the forest where it would be hard to directly detect her presence. She wanted to spot them before they spotted her, so she could have the advantage. She was not sure how they would react once she revealed herself. She was prepared for both scenarios: both negative and positive.

The positive scenario involved her seeing them first and negotiating with them until she got what she wanted.

The negative scenario involved them seeing her first and attacking. In case of this scenario, she knew she would not be able to face them in combat alone, especially if he had someone with him. If this were to happen, she would try to escape. She hoped they would listen to her before they decided whether or not she was worth killing.

However, she knew the people she would be dealing with were known murderers and this plan of hers may turn to the worst.

But she had to do this. This is why she left. This was the only option left in her life.

As she drew closer, she traveled even more carefully and quieter than before. She would be coming up to them soon, and she wanted to proceed with caution.

She heard voices from the tree she was currently standing in.

Sakura jumped down from the tree quietly and approached a bush that was resting on the side of the dirt road. She hid behind it cautiously, straining her hearing and eyesight to the direction the voices were coming from.

One voice belonged to a male and the other a female.

Although she could not hear distinctly what they were discussing, she focused chakra-which was not one hundred percent because of her recent traveling-to her eyesight and saw their faces through the leaves.

It was him. The one she had been searching for.

Now that she had found him, she began deciding what the best option was at this point. She was sure if she just stood up and walked out, she would be attacked. Yet, if she tried to sneak up on them, she would also be attacked out of surprise. In the scenario of her coming out directly, it would not seem like a threat to them, versus if she did it out of surprise. But would it matter? Would they attack either way?

Suddenly, their discussion halted. Neither one of them spoke.

Sakura had lost sight of them momentarily while she was processing her own thoughts. She focused on her eyesight again to try and see them, but was greeted instead with her heart jumping into her throat as a blade pressed up against her throat from behind.

"What do we have here?" the male voice she had just heard moments ago was now behind her.

"I told you we were being followed," the woman was behind her as well. "I sensed her from a mile away."

"A pink haired kunoichi, I see." the man did not acknowledge the woman. Sakura didn't dare move as the sharp blade pressed up against her neck. "Turn around so we can see our tracker."

Sakura hesitated at first, but realized that she was completely at his will. Any sudden movement, and she would be done. She slowly began to turn her head and was greeted by the familiar black cloak with red clouds in front of her face.

She looked up at the man she had set out to find. He looked exactly like the picture she had with her, yet he looked more frightening now that he was standing only centimeters away from her. A chill ran down her spine as he smirked at her darkly, the woman stood behind him with an identical smirk on her own face.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked, his voice so calm it sounded coldblooded.

Sakura swallowed hard and tried to keep her voice from shaking as she nodded. "Yes…you are Pain. The leader of the Akatsuki." she took a breath before saying, "and I have been looking for you."

* * *

**A/N: A****lso, as you can clearly see in the chapter, I have altered the canon storyline to fit my personal preference for this story. For example, I kept where Sasori and Deidara get the one tail from Gaara, but altered out Sakura's encounter with Sasori, leaving him alive rather than dead. There may be minimal alterations like this throughout the story.**

**Until Next Time,**

**xoxo**


	3. Chapter 3

Knelt before the leader of the Akatsuki was undeniably one of the most terrifying situations Sakura had ever been in. He stood tall over her, his heavily pierced face did not move an inch as he inspected the kunoichi. His violet ringed eyes observed every detail in subtle motion as they coldly stared at her. In his eyes, she saw nothing. This was a man who would kill someone as easily as he blinked those soulless eyes.

The woman who was with him stood behind Pain without motion. She assumed this was Konan, her reasoning being that Konan was the only female in the Akatsuki organization; at least as far as Sakura's research went. Her face held the expression of relaxation and disinterest, meaning that she was not at all intimidated by someone like Sakura. Her dark blue bangs rested on her cheeks flawlessly as her light eyes stared into Sakura's emerald ones. A flower rest in her hair like a hair clip.

Pain's kunai pressed against her jugular, causing Sakura to flinch.

Perhaps this would truly turn to the worst possible scenario. Perhaps she was in over her head the moment she stepped out of Konoha.

"It is not everyday that we come across someone who is actually looking for you," Konan spoke gently, but coldly behind Pain. "Very often it is the opposite. Others tend to stay away from your general direction."

"Hm," Pain acknowledged her comment. "You are the ninja who has been recently reported missing from Konoha," This was not a question, but a very firm statement.

So word had even reached their ears.

"Sasume…or Sakudo…something similar to those names," Konan seemed to try and recollect her memory.

"Sakura," Sakura firmly corrected her. "Sakura Haruno."

Pain smirked a subtle smile, "Yes. Sakura, it was." His voice alone shook Sakura to her very bones.

"What business do you have?" Pain asked chillingly.

Konan and Pain studied Sakura, clearly they were both slightly curious as to why a kunoichi would suddenly leave her village to come seek out someone like the Akatsuki leader. Although they did not know much about her, they knew she was on the ninja squad with the nine tailed Jinchuuriki, which further raised their curiosity and questions.

Sakura took a deep breath before answering their question with, "I want to join your ranks."

The statement obviously caught them off guard, as she expected it to. They both glanced at each other as if they were privately communicating, then looked back at Sakura. Pain stared at Sakura as if he were trying to read her true intentions, expecting some alternative motive to her wish to join such an organization.

Sakura met his gaze hard, if not harder, to show him that she was not intimidated by him, even if she secretly felt like she was going to vomit. His eyes were empty; completely hollow. How many men had he killed? She could not let him see her fear.

"Why?" The question was so ordinary and calm after what seemed like a century of silence. "What is your purpose for wishing such a thing?"

"My purpose is my own," Sakura replied a bit firmer than she intended.

Konan looked almost slightly amused at her answer, "That answer is not acceptable to the question." Her eyes narrowed. Although her appearance was not as intimidating as her leader, Sakura could sense that she had a sufficient amount of chakra and could only imagine the true power she possessed.

"Konan," Pain said this in a tone that sounded like he was telling her to be silent. The kunoichi took a step back in acknowledgement.

His dark eyes bored into Sakura's. "As it appears, the Akatuski is a ten man organization," he said dryly, "We are full at the present time."

Sakura clenched her teeth, "Then make it an eleven man organization." she said this out of frustration, and regretted it as soon as the words came out.

But she had to get in. This was the reason she left.

Pains violet eyes narrowed and his lips formed into a thin white line. He pressed his kunai further against Sakura's neck, causing it to dig into her skin deep enough to break the surface. A thin red line of blood immediately accumulated under the blade and began oozing down her neck and collarbone. This stung, of course, but she did not move or break eye contact as Pain slowly knelt down to her level, until his face was only centimeters away from hers, and their noses were almost touching.

Pain opened his mouth to speak, his breath hitting Sakura's sweaty face, causing chills to run through her body.

"Tell me what makes you think you are even worth considering?" He whispered, the words stinging Sakura as they entered her ears.

Ignoring her mind telling her to back down, she leaned even closer to the sunrise haired shinobi, her neck pulsing as the kunai pressed against her wound harder. Her nose brushed his as she whispered back, "Get this kunai out of my throat, and I'll show you." Her tone was so dark, she even caught herself off guard.

Although she had certainly stood her ground, and was proud she had done so, she was fearful. All the black cloaked shinobi had to do was slide his kunai across her throat and she would bleed out almost immediately. She was at his mercy.

How he would react to her standing up to him would determine her fate.

There was a long pause before he or Konan said anything, which gave Sakura the indication that he was thinking of a better way to kill her.

Relief-although an odd word to use in the current situation-filled Sakura when Pain withdrew his kunai and stood up to his feet, chuckling softly and darkly to himself. He turned to Konan behind him, who was as still as a statue.

"It has been a while since we have run into anyone with the guts that this girl possesses," His tone was amused.

"It is to be expected from a Konoha ninja, I suppose." Konan's voice was flat.

He turned back to Sakura and placed his kunai back into its previous holster. "She must be of some interest if word got out from Konoha so quickly, hm?" He was looking at Sakura, but speaking to Konan.

Konan simply nodded.

"Tell me," He reached up to slightly twist one of the nose piercings on his face, "What makes you so unique?"

Sakura let out a soft breath that she did not know she was holding. "I am the fifth Hokage's personal student," She simply stated, "I specialize in chakra based strength and medical ninjutsu."

Pain's face let out a subtle hint of surprise that Sakura would not have noticed if she weren't paying attention. "Medical ninjutsu? Interesting…" His tone trailed off.

"I can show you my abilities," Sakura continued eagerly. She knew once she had his attention, she would have a chance at convincing him that having her would be to his advantage. "I can show you why you need me in your ranks."

Pain simply chuckled to himself, which caught Sakura slightly off guard. "A chance to prove yourself?" He looked back at Konan who was analyzing Sakura intently. "How do you feel about that, Konan?"

It took Konan a moment to answer, but she finally replied with, "We have never had a medical ninja in our organization," Her eyes shifted from Sakura's to Pain's. "She may be of interest."

"Very well," Pain remarked at Konan's comment, turning back to Sakura, he replied, "We have other obligations that need tending to at the present moment. Something calls our attention that can not wait any longer. In a weeks time, you will hear from us again. We will discuss your usefulness to the Akatsuki and determine whether or not you will be able to aid us in our goal."

"Please," Sakura continued, "If you just let me show you what I can do-"

"If we decide you are worth joining us," Pain interrupted her before she could finish, "You will get the opportunity to show us your capabilities. In a weeks time, we will find you."

Sakura admitted to herself that she was a little let down that it would take a weeks time before she could prove herself, but understood fully that this choice of theirs would require some thought.

"And what if you do not find me worthy?" Sakura asked curiously.

Konan smiled an almost inhuman smile behind Pain over her dark cloak collar.

"If we do not see you fit to join us," Konan's voice was raw, "We will simply kill you for wasting our time."

Sakura's eyes widened at her statement, a lump formed in her throat as she gazed over at Pain who had a small smirk formed at the corner of his mouth.

"We will see you in a weeks time," He brought his hand up with a familiar hand sign.

And in a puff of smoke, both of the Akatsuki were gone, leaving Sakura alone in the woods.

* * *

_The air was heavy and thick. The smell of blood clung to the air and filled his nose as he ran. It smelt horrible; one of the worst smells he had ever experienced. The moon hung in the sky eerily, the night wind bit at his face. _

_His heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest at any given moment._

_He looked around him; Bodies filled the streets of the place he grew up. The place he called home. Familiar faces lay in the dirt, blood pools under every body, every face twisted into an expression of betrayal._

_Friends. Uncles. Aunts. Cousins._

_Kunai dug into the ground, the full moon's light reflecting off the shining metal, emphasizing each drop of blood. The ground was red. His hands were stained with the blood of his family._

_Mother. Father. The only one he loved most watched as he slaughtered them. The crushing sound as his blade took the lives of those who had raised and loved him. The pounding sound as their bodies fell on the hard ground at his feet._

_ He watched as the one he vowed to protect cowered in fear at the sight of him. He was the only one who remained alive._

_The child ran, and he followed him. Passing every body he had recently slaughtered only a few moments ago. His expressionless face as he cornered the boy who feared for his life._

_He stood in front of the shadow of the small figure in front of him. The boy who trusted and loved him. He showed no emotion as the boy's tears ran down his face._

"_Itachi…" His innocent voice echoed in the cool air, "Itachi…why?"_

Itachi's eyes shot open, sharingan ablaze. He leaned up in his bed, his loose black hair spilled over his bare shoulders and dropped on his chest over his necklace. He ran his fingers through his hair, realizing his skin was clammy and sweaty.

He looked around the dark room, only the moon outside of his window provided light. Nothing was present, and he was in the same bed he had fallen asleep in. It was silent, with only crickets and insects singing outside.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Once he eased his mind, his red orbs soon turned back to their original onyx color. He sighed as he opened his eyes and looked out the window adjacent to his bed.

The full white moon mocked him.

He slowly laid back down, his head resting on his pillow. It was just a dream.

The same dream that he had every night.

* * *

Sakura thought about what she had discussed with Pain and Konan. She truly believed that once she showed them exactly what she had learned from one of the legendary Sanin, she would earn her place in their ranks. Of course, she was no way in comparison with Sasuke or even Naruto, but she believed her medical ninjutsu was enough to earn their respect and attention.

After her encounter, her first priority was to find a place to rest. She had to be at her full potential and her chakra had to be one hundred percent if she was going to win favor with Pain. She realized that these ninja had strange and unique powers, along with the strength to hold their own, and she had to prove to them she could be just as useful.

This put pressure on her to train hard for the next days to come. She would be ready to prove herself.

She rested at an old inn, much similar to the one she almost rested in before, and nursed her minor neck wound. With her ninjutsu, healing was almost immediate, and she was thankful Lady Tsunade had taught her everything she knew.

_I never thought I would be where I am now,_ Sakura's inner thoughts echoed in her head, _She would be ashamed of me as a student._

She quickly shook the thought out of her head. She would not allow herself to feel guilt. She had come this far, and would succeed in her new life as an Akatsuki member. She had to do this. After what happened to Sasuke, she could not allow herself to live the normal life she had lived up until this point.

Something happened within her that day she received the life changing news. They were too late. Nothing mattered to her anymore. She was not strong enough to stop him from leaving or save him. She could not watch any more people she loved die. She had to separate herself from them and create her own life.

She laid down on the old rickety bed in the inn and closed her eyes. Of course she missed them, but she did not deserve that feeling. She did not deserve to miss them when it was she who had left.

She drifted off into a slumber after a few moments of recollecting thoughts.

_Lady Tsunade stood in front of her desk as Naruto and Sakura walked into her office. Sakura immediately recognized that something was bothering her by her averted eyes and her pursed lips. Being her student and always having spent time with her, she picked up on her habits and moods._

_This indicated to Sakura that the Hokage was deeply affected by something. She had only seen the look on her face twice up to this point, and both times had involved Orochimaru._

_Was Orochimaru up to something again?_

_Naruto and Sakura stood side by side in front of the Hokage, waiting for her to acknowledge them. She did not. This concerned Sakura._

"_Grandma Tsunade," Naruto spoke after a few brief moments of silence, he was starting to get antsy. "You summoned us?"_

_Tsunade did not respond right away. After another long moment of silence, she met eye contact with Naruto, and then to Sakura. She gave off once single nod and leaned against her desk, almost as if she were weak._

"_M'lady?" Sakura spoke, ready to jump by Tsunades side. Was she drunk? What had happened? "M'lady, are you alright?"_

_Shizune stood behind her desk with Ton-Ton in her arms. She looked to the floor, not acknowledging either of them. Even Ton-Ton looked to be affected by something._

_Naruto was growing impatient, "Somebody tell us whats going on!" His fists clenched. Tension filled the air and it was beginning to weigh the both of them down._

_Sakura's heart felt like it was going to burst when Tsunade finally opened her mouth to speak. _

"_I have summoned you here to talk about…" she hesitated before she continued, "Sasuke. We have received word on Sasuke."_

_Naruto almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of his best friend's name. Sakura's eyes grew wide. From the clear sight in front of her, this was not a glorious occasion._

_She felt her stomach begin to tighten._

"_And?!" Naruto stepped forward, eager to hear about the information the Hokage was about to reveal. "Where is he? Are we going on a mission to find him?" A smile curved at his lips as he turned to Sakura, "We'll get him for sure this time! Ive been working on my jutsu and its perfect for-"_

"_Naruto, stop," Tsunade interrupted him._

_Naruto turned back to the Hokage, confused. "Why? What's the matter?"_

_Lady Tsunade took a deep breath before making direct eye contact with him and saying, "Sasuke-"_

Sakura's eyes jolted open from her slumber as she heard a noise from outside her window.

* * *

**A/N: I appreciate all the recent reviews. Thank you for your feedback, I am thrilled you are enjoying the story.**

**Until Next Time,**

**xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: **Your recent review are appreciated!**

**Chapter 4 coming up!**

* * *

Sakura sensed chakra as she jumped up from her bed. Someone was outside of the inn and they were close to her room. She quickly grabbed her backpack, throwing it over her shoulders, and crouched under the window pane.

She heard footsteps as they approached the window.

She remained silent as the mystery person outside gazed inside, it was clear that this person was spying.

Were the looking for her? Or was it a mere coincidence that they stopped at her particular window, and just so happened to be a wandering ninja?

She was willing to bet the first option.

She felt a bit of relief that this person did not possess an enormous amount of chakra, but she was puzzled on the fact that it somewhat felt…familiar.

After a few moments, the ninja moved on from her window and Sakura let out a sigh of relief. She realized she may have stayed here too long and it was time to move elsewhere. She quickly gathered any loose belongings in the room and exited.

Once she was outside, she began running in the opposite direction of the inn, silently praying that the mystery person had not seen her leaving.

She was sure she had gotten away without detection when she reached the forest nearby. She jumped into the nearest tree and began sprinting along the branches several feet above the ground.

At this point, she was just going to stall time the next week until she heard Pain's answer to her request. If she was admitted to their ranks, she would have a place she could live in secret along with the rest of the members. Until she was provided with such a place, she would have to be careful that the Konoha ninja would stay off of her trail.

She decided she would find a safe place in the forest to rest for the night, but her thoughts were suddenly halted when she detected the same chakra flow from before, about five yards behind her.

The one from the window was following her now.

So they _were_ looking for her, just as she suspected. Focusing chakra to her feet, her speed excelled. It was dark outside, possibly close to eleven or twelve o'clock, and she would have no advantage if it came to a fight in this forest. Her only choice was to try and outrun this mystery ninja.

However, the option of outrunning was becoming difficult, when she heard the ninja behind her also excelling their speed to keep up with her.

Knowing that she could not emit anymore chakra without the possibility of it draining her, she knew she could not go any faster than she was already going. If they continued on like this, the ninja would eventually catch up to her.

So, there was no choice but to defend herself, since running was quickly becoming an option that she did not have.

She quickly made a sharp turn to the right, straining her eyesight to see a lit opening in the forest trees. It was safe to assume that beyond that opening, there was a area that was well lit from the moon, giving her an advantage if she could get there before her pursuer. She would wait until the ninja revealed themselves from the forest, and attack without mercy.

Then once the ninja was down, she would run and escape before they had a chance to catch back up with her.

Nodding to herself, she gave herself just a little more chakra for an extra boost, and began heading for the opening. After a brief moment of cutting speed and blurred surroundings, she made it to the lit opening and jumped from the trees.

As she expected, she landed in a wide open field with tall grass that swayed against her legs. The full moon above her lit the field, giving her full view of her surroundings. She smiled to herself. This was the perfect place for a fight.

Quickly reaching down to grab a kunai, she decided she would charge up as much chakra as she could muster without going overboard, and she would thrust the chakra filled kunai at her pursuer the second they appeared from the trees.

If it hit them, it would cause a great deal of damage, but even if it did not hit them, it would serve as a distraction. This would give her another advantage of ganging up on them while they were trying to collect themselves.

She charged up her chakra in her right hand and turned on her heels towards the forest, ready to throw her blade at anything that revealed itself from the dark nights woods.

But she was too late. This pursuer had already caught up to her and was already standing at the edge of the woods.

Rather than rushing into battle, Sakura's mouth dropped open at the sight in front of her. She knew that chakra had felt familiar, and now seeing the person standing in front of her, she realized that the chakra belonged to them…to _her_.

"Are you going to throw that at me?" The kunoichi's face was facing the ground. "Did you think you were going to ambush me?"

Sakura closed her eyes slowly, letting the chakra in her right hand fade. She then opened her eyes, meeting the eyes of the pursuer in front of her.

"Ino…" Sakura whispered in the nights windy air, "You shouldn't have come."

* * *

Itachi panted quietly as he landed on his feet, observing the damage he had thrusted upon the straw dummy in front of him. He was satisfied when the smoke cleared from his recent fireball jutsu; only ashes of the dummy remained.

He had just endured a five hour training session on the Akatsuki compound training ground without rest or water. Usually, this was of no accomplishment to the Uchiha prodigy, but he was pleased with himself in his current state. His sharingan had been giving him trouble earlier in the day.

He knew overusing his eye would lead to his current troubles eventually, but it still irritated him nonetheless.

"Woah!" An energetic voice caught Itachi's attention from behind, "You blasted the thing down with one jutsu! You're almost living up to your full potential now, Itachi-Senpai!"

Of course it was Tobi.

Itachi stood tall, not facing the rather irritating shinobi.

"I do not have time for your games," Itachi calmly warned him. He was in no mood to deal with Tobi's taunting.

"Oh, no, Tobi is not here to play games!" Tobi held up his hands as if he were 'coming in peace', "Tobi has a message from Pain-Senpai!"

This caught Itachi's attention.

He turned to the orange masked ninja and calmly asked, "Have they returned?"

"Nope," Tobi remarked, "Don't have a clue where they are."

"Then what message do you have that could concern me?" He turned away from Tobi, "I do not have time to be wasted while I am in the middle of my training."

"Pain-Senpai communicated with me through my ring," Tobi held up his hand that the Akatsuki ring rested on, "And he said that he ran into someone who you might be interested in."

This slightly shocked Itachi. Who could Pain possibly believe Itachi would have any interest in? The people he cared about in this world was extremely minimal.

"Who?" Itachi questioned as he turned to face him once more.

Tobi's voice was amused, "A Konoha ninja who was friends with your brother!"

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "What is the name of this ninja?"

"Come with Tobi and he will tell you everything that Pain told him."

Itachi, although hesitant, exited the training compound with him; The smoke of the dummies ashes continued to fill the air.

* * *

Ino stood a few feet away from Sakura, her expression was solemn. Up until this point, although odd of her to wish, she hoped that it was all a misunderstanding and Sakura had forcedly been taken from the leaf village. At least in that scenario, they would be able to find her and take her back home.

But as Sakura stood alone in front of her, it as clear that she had truly left of her own free will.

"Ino…" Sakura spoke first after the awkward length of silence, "How did you find me?"

"Kiba picked up your scent," Ino responded, a crack in her voice. "You covered your tracks well, though…he could only pick up the general direction of your location. We split up to cover more ground."

"Kiba is with you?"

Ino nodded, "Kiba and Hinata," she averted her eyes, "Tsunade wanted to just send team eight, but I personally volunteered to go…"

Sakura's eyes fell to the grassy ground below her, "I see…"

"Why are you doing this?" Ino plainly asked, her voice was on edge. "How could you do this to us? We're your friends. Surely you know how we feel, it's the same way you felt the night Sasuke left…why would you purposely put that same feeling on us?"

"You wouldn't understand," Sakura replied emotionlessly. "You have no clue."

Ino took a step forward, "Then tell me."

Sakura simply shook her head.

"We can go back," Ino mustered up a fake smile, "It's not too late to go back, Sakura."

Sakura snorted sarcastically at her comment, "Its far too late for you to try and save me, Ino."

Ino's smile vanished and her expression twisted into a mixture of hurt and frustration, "Why are you leaving your family?!" she yelled, her fists clenching at her sides. "Are we not friends? Best friends, even? Does none of that matter to you? I was always mean to you...we were rivals for Sasuke...but...you are my best friend!"

"We were best friends...that has nothing to do with this..." Sakura replied flatly, "This has everything to do with the fact that i am weak...i've always been weak...and thats the reason Sasuke is dead..." Sakura tried to hide the hurt in her tone from Ino, "I left to get strong...i can't watch another friend die. I'm secluding myself from that life."

It took a moment for Ino to register everything Sakura had said told her, she replied with, "You aren't weak, Sakura...you can train with us. We can get you stronger...Tsunade can-"

"I have always been weak!" Sakura interrupted her violently, "I tried to live by the right rules. Do my homework, practice jutsus and get stronger...i tried the good road and it lead me to weakness...its my fault Sasuke is dead! I was too weak to save him and relied on others to do it for me...thats what lead me here. I refuse to live in others shadows again!"

Ino shook her head, "Sakura...I know how you are hurting, but-"

Sakura's eyebrows lowered in annoyance, "You have no clue what is feels like! You don't know what it is to lose someone like we lost Sasuke!" She screamed angrily back at Ino.

Ino looked flabbergasted at Sakura's words, "_I_ have no idea? He was my friend too!"

"You didn't know him like Naruto and I did," Sakura retorted, "He was nothing but distant for you."

Ino clenched her teeth, "How can you say that?" She took another step forward, "I loved him!"

Sakura let out a dark and sarcastic chuckle, "_Love_?" She laughed again, "You only felt lust for him. What I had for him was love!" she placed her hand over her shirt, directly where her heart lay internally, "My heart broke the day we were told he died!"

Ino blinked back a tear as she digested everything that Sakura had just said. Of course, she was right. She did not know Sasuke like Sakura did. She was hurt when Tsunade revealed that Sasuke had died, but she truly did not know the extent of pain that Sakura felt.

"You can't do this just because of Sasuke," Ino responded, "You can't abandon your entire life because of someone who wanted nothing to do with you!"

Rage filled Sakura because of Ino's words, and without hesitation, she reached into her kunai holster, pulling a blade out that firmly had a paper bomb attached to it. She ran at the blond kunoichi with full force, and with chakra focused in her arm, chucked the kunai at Ino without remorse or guilt.

Ino, of course, easily dodged the kunai and was suddenly hidden in a cloud of black smoke when the kunai hit the ground and the paper bomb went off.

Sakura jumped back a few feet, knowing that Ino had dodged it and would very likely spring at her in any given moment.

But to her surprise, Ino did not attack, but simply walked out of the black smoke like nothing had occurred. Sakura's eyes narrowed at the blond Konoha ninja, trying to analyze what her attack would be.

Rather, Ino simply met her gaze, a single tear sliding down her cheek as she said, "Don't make me fight you, Sakura."

"Turn around and walk away, Ino," Sakura replied harshly, "Pretend you didn't see me."

"You know I can't do that," Ino shook her head as she responded.

"Then we have no choice," Sakura crouched down as she withdrew two kunai from her holster, placing one in each hand. "Tonight, the better kunoichi will win."

Ino did not respond for a few moments. She then wiped her tear away with her wrist, and reached behind her waist to untie her headband. She brought the headband up to her forehead and tied it behind her head tightly. This indicated that she wanted to fight on equal terms as a leaf shinobi.

Sakura accepted her challenge, reaching into her bag and pulling her own headband out, repeating what Ino had just done. This was the first time she had worn her headband since she left the leaf village. There was not a better occasion than this to wear it.

Memories flashed quickly through Sakura and Ino's minds of when they fought in the Chunin preliminaries. They had always told each other they would have a rematch one day; neither one of them thought that would be on this particular occasion.

Ino simply smirked as she withdrew two kunai just as Sakura had done, put one in each hand, and said, "Let the best ninja win."

At her words, they both ran at each other.

The two girls ran at each other with the intent to kill, just like they had learned in their training.

_If you do not come at me with the intent to kill, you will never defeat me. _

The statement from both Kakashi and Asuma was drilled into their heads. Both ninjas only had victory in their minds, but only one would win.

Sakura aimed a chakra filled punch at Ino's face, which was easily dodged, as she expected it to be. Ino was not just some genin that would easily be taken out.

Ino crouched onto the ground, swiping her leg under Sakura's feet with the intention to drop her to the ground. Immediately seeing her move, Sakura jumped over her leg and managed to land a kick of her own into Ino's side, a grunt escaped the blonds lips. She had packed much chakra into her kick, so she knew it would have an affect on Ino.

Ino, holding onto the hip where she was kicked, jumped back from Sakura a few feet. Sakura landed on one knee, staring at Ino as green chakra immediately formed in the palm of her hand. She placed her hand over her side and within a few moments, was recovered from Sakura's blow.

Sakura had not forgotten that Ino was also capable of performing medical ninjutsu, but she also knew she was not anywhere close to Sakura's level. Sakura also knew that Ino did not have the chakra control that she possessed, and would not be able to do an extended amount of medical jutsu to recover herself.

Sakura smirked.

"What are you smirking about?" Ino bit angrily.

"You don't know everything about medical ninjutsu that I know," She responded amusingly.

Ino clenched her teeth, "So?"

"So," Sakura remarked, "You won't be able to heal every punch I throw at you. You won't win."

Ino smiled in return, which slightly caught Sakura off guard. "We'll see," she replied as she began running towards Sakura again.

Within an instant, Ino was in front of Sakura. She grabbed onto her shoulders and drove her knee into Sakura's stomach, thinking she had gotten her in the gut, but cursed when she saw that a large tree limb was used in Sakura's place. She had performed the substitution, and Ino should have known it wouldn't have been that easy.

She turned around to see Sakura forming a handsign, which was unknown to her. She was not aware that Sakura had any particular jutsu like herself, but she realized that she also had not fought Sakura in at least three years. She could have easily had time to create her own.

"Pink Blossom Jutsu!" Sakura called out as she withdrew a scroll from the side of her backpack, and threw it open. Kunai instantly began hurling at Ino, at least a dozen or so, with paperbombs attached to each end.

_So she has created a jutsu similar to Tenten's weaponry and sealed it in a scroll_. Ino thought to herself as she jumped into the air to dodge the flow of kunai thrown in her direction.

She dodged the kunai without a scratch, which annoyed Sakura.

_If i can get her distracted, _Ino thought as she began running towards Sakura, _I can get her with my mind transfer and end this quickly._

The pink haired ninja braced for impact as Ino ran up to her, immediately throwing punches. Sakura blocked and dodged each punch, but was unprepared to protect herself against Ino's right knee which soon lodged itself into Sakura's stomach.

Gasping at the sudden impact, Sakura hurled over clutching her stomach. Ino slammed her elbow into the back of Sakura's neck, and kicked her hard enough to send her flying a few feet back.

Sakura laid on the ground, her hands holding her burning stomach and her stinging neck. She emitted green chakra to her palms and immediately began healing the impacted areas quickly, at least to he point where she could muster up the strength to stand up to her feet.

Once she stood up, she saw the blond kunoichi charging her once more.

Sakura, rather than running at her this time, threw two kunai from her holster toward her. Ino dodged such a simple attack, but hitting her with them was not Sakura's goal.

As Ino was busy dodging the two flying blades, Sakura excelled her speed with her chakra and run under Ino as she was airborne.

Now on the other side of her, Sakura threw a kunai with a paper bomb attached into Ino's back. An explosion similar to earlier went off, surrounding both kunoichi in a thick back smoke.

Sakura jumped back out of the smoke, landing on her feet a few feet or so from the explosion. She had seen the kunai go into Ino's back. She had gotten her.

As the smoke cleared, Sakura saw the shadow of a large lump lying on the ground, which she assumed was Ino's body.

But once the smoke completely vanished, she was surprised to see that it was not Ino's body lying on the ground, but a thick brown log.

_Substitution!_ Sakura cursed in her mind, but before she could scan the area for the now missing blond, she felt a force land on her from above and drive her into the ground.

Ino had made an above attack and was now pinning Sakura's arms to the ground with her knees.

She struck Sakura's face with her fist. Warm, salty blood immediately began filling Sakura's mouth.

"You are coming home!" Ino screamed as she struck her again.

Sakura struggled under her, trying to free her arms, but she could not get herself free from under Ino's body weight. As Ino struck her face for a third time, she felt her head begin to swim.

Having no other option, she gathered the iron tasting blood into one corner of her mouth, and as Ino was about to punch her again, she spit the blood into Ino's eyes.

Screaming because of the stinging sensation that flooded her vision, Sakura was able to take the advantage and roll out from under Ino. She jumped up, and before Ino had a chance to wipe the hot substance out of her eyes, Sakura packed another chakra filled kick into her back. Ino was sent flying across the field into a thick tree trunk, causing the tree to fall completely at its broken trunk.

Sakura spit the remaining blood out of her mouth onto the ground and immediately emitted green healing chakra to her already swollen face and eyes.

Ino sat inside the demolished tree rubble, hunched over and blood oozing down from her head throughout her light blond hair. It was apparent that the impact with the tree had cut Ino's head open, which in return would disorient her from further fighting since she had received a very serious concussion.

Once Sakura's face was healed to the point where it was tolerable, she began walking towards her former best friend.

She approached the blond shinobi, standing above her. Ino did not look up. She seemed to have passed out from the blood loss. Sakura sighed as she knelt down in front of her.

She whispered against the wind, "I told you that you shouldn't have come."

Just as Sakura was about to stand up and limp away from the battle, Ino's head suddenly shot up. Without time to react, Ino lunged at Sakura with a kunai in her hand, swinging it at Sakura's face.

Her aim was off, and she managed to cut Sakura's headband without injuring her.

From the lunge, Ino fell at Sakura's feet. Sakura stepped back a couple inches, wary that Ino may try to jump at her again.

But she didn't.

Instead, Ino laid on her stomach, lifting her head off of the ground and looking up at Sakura with one pale blue eye open, the other was matted shut from Sakura's thick blood.

"S..Sakura…" Ino panted as blood trickled down her lip, "If…you leave now….don't ever…come back…" she coughed more red liquid onto the grass below her, her blond hair was matted with blood from her head wound.

Sakura reached up to untie her headband and swiftly removed it. She brought it up to her face to observe. A thick slash had been delivered through the hidden leaf symbol.

She threw the headband in front of Ino's face and turned around.

"I don't intend to," Sakura replied as she slowly began limping away from the one she once called her best friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Shout out to Diizgiirljess for the kind reviews. It motivates me! Im glad you are enjoying it!**

**Since the last chapter was packed with action, this chapter won't be as intense, and it will be a shorter chapter. But hang in there with me; It will get better in the next one!**

**Chapter five, as promised.**

* * *

It took days for Sakura to recover one hundred percent from her battle with Ino. Her medical ninjutsu healed most wounds entirely, but her chakra was depleted from pushing herself too long without rest. She had not had a true nights rest since she left fire country.

Her face were Ino had struck her multiple times held bruises as evidence of their battle. Deep down, she was concerned for Ino and had wondered how long she lay there defeated before the others found her, but every time she began to feel remorse for Ino, she shook out of it.

She could not allow herself to feel guilt now.

Since her recent encounter with Ino, she avoided inns or anything that would bring attention just in case Tsunade were to send another team after her. She remained hidden in the forests, resting and healing. The more she stayed hidden, the better. She wanted to avoid fights with her old friends.

It had officially been a week since Sakura had met with Pain, and she was on edge. Not knowing whether or not their choice had been decided, she was wary of every corner. One thing was certain though, she hoped she would truly prove herself to him.

The Akatsuki was the exact thing she needed to become truly powerful.

She could imagine becoming the truly powerful ninja she always dreamed of becoming; possibly even strong enough to rival Naruto and Kakashi.

One thing was absolutely certain, although it was a small thing to be concerned about. If the Akatsuki took her in rather than killing her, she would be glad she wouldn't be homeless anymore.

She'd be even happier when she could get a hot shower.

* * *

"The previously discussed rumor is true," Pain leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, his fingers intertwined with each other directly in front of his face. "The rumor of Kabuto being alive is still uncertain; However, Konan and I witnessed an extreme increase in sound shinobi."

"How many?" Itachi's tone was dry.

"At least four times as many as when Orochimaru was alive," Konan answered stiffly. "Even in death, they are all loyal to him. They wish to carry out his wish in destroying the leaf village and becoming the strongest village."

"How is that even possible?" Deidara spoke directly across the round table from Konan, "How have they increased their numbers _that_ much?"

"It appears that any wandering ninjas have been caught and tested on, also highly skilled shinobi have been kidnapped out of their villages. Not only have their minds been twisted into serving Orochimaru, they have been given extraordinary and unique powers during experimentation," Pain answered the blonde's question, "In other words, something similar to Orochimaru's curse mark has been placed on each test subject."

"A curse mark, eh?" Hidan spoke, his face showing disinterest, "Why don't we just go over there and stop whoever is creating this so called army?"

"We could not get anywhere close to the one behind all of this," Konan answered, "We are uncertain of who is truly pulling the strings behind this operation. Whoever it is, they are heavily guarded."

"I am willing to bet it _is_ Kabuto," Kakuzu commented, "Who else could know what their doing when it comes to something like a curse mark? He was Orochimaru's lapdog, after all."

Everyone around the table nodded in agreement.

"I say we go over there and blow the whole village up," Deidara smiled at the thought of all the explosions and body parts flying in every direction. "That'll take care of the problem in one sweep, un."

"Of course that is your solution," Kisame rolled his beady eyes, "Don't know how to handle a situation? Lets blow it up!" He mocked Deidara's logic.

"Mock me all you want, but it gets the job done!" Deidara argued back, "Quick and painless!"

"No," Itachi shook his head. "This must be taken with caution. We are unaware of the abilities that these new test subjects may have with this newly developed mark."

Pain nodded in agreement, "You are right. We know little of the entire situation, and we will not do anything until we are more familiar with the situation."

Deidara rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

"You said they wanted to destroy the leaf village, right?" Zetsu came out of his observation to speak, "Do you think they will target them first?"

"It is possible," Konan replied.

"Then what is our move when it comes to Konoha?" Tobi asked eagerly next to Itachi.

"Who cares about them?" Hidan raised his eyebrow, "Let them destroy the leaf village. It'll be one less village that's not trying to hunt us down and kill us."

"But…" Tobi shook his head, "What about the Jinchuuriki? If they destroy the village, won't they destroy the nine tails too?"

Pain shook his head, "As we expected, they are also after the remaining tailed beasts."

"If anything, they will simply take the nine tails and then destroy the village." Konan finished Pain's statement.

"Which means we have to get to those tailed beasts first," Sasori coldly stated.

"We have gathered the one, two and three tailed beasts, along with the five and six tails. Only four beasts remain." Pain's violet eyes met Sasori's. "We will have to not only find the remaining beasts, but also keep an eye on the sounds movements."

"What is our plan?" Kakuzu asked dimly.

Pain gazed over to Zetsu, "Zetsu, you are the best one here at spying. You will be assigned to keep watch over the sound village and report back to us if they should make a move, whether it be on the leaf village for the nine tails or any other beast."

Zetsu simply nodded.

Pain turned his head to address the rest of the members, "Everyone else here will await for further orders and will remain under the radar as much as possible. We have reason to believe that they also may try to take us all out individually to lower our strength against them."

"If one should die, it affects the organization greatly," Konan agreed with Pain, "No one is to go rushing in getting themselves killed." she particularly eyed Deidara.

Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Just send me," Hidan smirked, glancing at Deidara in order to taunt him, "Rather than trying to blow everything up, Ill go in and perform rituals on all of them." He smiled as if he were getting pleasure from just thinking about it. "They can't kill someone who can't die."

"Until you get your head chopped off," Kakuzu bit harshly at Hidan, "Then you will be just a bodiless, irritating head."

Hidan slammed his hands on the table next to Kakuzu, "Who's side are you on, Kakuzu?!"

"Enough," Pain raised his hand to silence them. "Stay on your guard and await further orders. Other than Sasori and Zetsu, you are all dismissed."

Sasori raised his head up a bit out of curiosity. It had been quite a while since Pain wanted to speak directly to him.

Itachi hesitated at first. After the recent news that Tobi shared with him about Sakura seeking Pain out, he was very interested in the situation and wanted to hear further details from Pain himself.

However, he stood up from his chair slowly and began to leave. He would speak to him about it at a later time.

The other members exited the room, leaving the three of them sitting around the round black table. Sasori met his eye contact, curious of what the leader wanted from him.

"Zetsu, Sasori," Pain addressed them, "I have a task I want the both of you to handle."

* * *

Sakura leaned her back up against a tree trunk and rested her head against it. She reached into her backpack and withdrew her water jug, opening it and drinking it until there was not even a drop left inside.

It had been a while since she had come by a river or creek, so she had not gotten to refill it. She would have to go in search of a water source soon.

She finally began to feel as though her chakra had fully recharged. She was grateful; she would need all of it when Pain showed.

She gazed up at the treetops, the blue sky only showed through in bits and pieces through the thick leaves. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, breathing in and out slowly. This was the first time since she left that she actually felt somewhat relaxed.

The relaxation was short lived when she heard the rustling of leaves behind her.

Her eyes jolted open and she quickly withdrew a kunai from her pouch, jumping to her feet and scanning the area from which the sound came from.

_Surely its not another leaf ninja, _She prayed with all her might that she would not have to battle anyone else, _I was so sure to stay hidden!_

As she stood with the kunai firmly in her hand, she awaited for another sign.

The rustling of leaves came from her right. She quickly shifted so she was facing where the noise was coming from, and with one movement, threw the kunai in the direction of the rustling bush.

She was relieved when, rather than a ninja jumping out, it was a simple gray rabbit.

She let out a relieved sigh. _Thank goodness…_

"You are quite jumpy, I see." Sakura's heart jumped and her stomach tightened as a unfamiliar voice spoke from behind her.

She quickly turned around to see a red haired ninja approaching her from behind the shadow of a tree. He appeared to be young; Possibly only twenty or so, maybe even younger. He had thick red hair and deep brown eyes. She had never seen his face before, but he was wearing a black cloak with red clouds.

He was in the Akatsuki.

"You…you're in the Akatsuki!" Sakura pointed out. Her statement of the obvious annoyed Sasori.

"Black cloak with red clouds," Sasori's voice was chilling, yet so calm and collected. His expression was amused. "You are excellent in pointing out the obvious."

"Which one are you?" Sakura asked as she placed her hand on her kunai holster. _I sense a huge amount of chakra in this guy!_

"My name is Sasori, Sasori of the red sand," Sasori replied as he brought his hands up to form a handsign that was familiar to Sakura. He grinned darkly at her, causing immediate shivers to run down Sakura's spine. He then, almost in a sinister whisper, said, "And I am here to kill you."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: There is a note i would like to mention.**

**1) I started a new story that i will be working on alongside of this one, called **_The Trouble With Love_**. I will be updating both stories alternately. It is a ShikaTema story, so if you are a fan of that ship, i suggest checking it out.**

**I hope you enjoy the next chapter.**

* * *

Sakura felt weak in her knees. So they had decided against her? Even though they had not given her the chance to prove herself? She was upset at first, but then soon became angry. She should have known they would not stay true to their word. They were a group of liars and murderers, after all.

Sasori stood only a few feet away from her; Having just summoned a large and strange looking puppet, that now rested its arms around his shoulders.

_Yes, I did read that he was a puppet master…_Sakura thought to herself, _If I remember correctly, he was a huge puppet creator back in the Sand village before he left._

The puppet looked like a female, but her face held crescent shaped scars on both cheeks and a piercing through her nose. She would have looked like an intimidating shinobi if she were alive.

The red head smirked slyly, "Beautiful, isn't she?" His cool voice traveled on the wind.

"Not exactly the word I'd use," Sakura murmured back, her hand began sliding slowly down towards her kunai holster.

"Hn," Sasori disregarded her comment, "Her beauty will remain eternal this way. Never will she age or decay. True art is eternal, after all." he finished the statement with a dark flash of his teeth.

A cold chill rushed through Sakura. Something was disturbingly off about this man, although she did not know what. However, one thing was for certain.

He was extremely dangerous.

"Pain denied my request?" Sakura asked as she placed her palm completely over the holster, digging gently at the entrance so she could easily grab a kunai if he decided to come at her.

"Why else would I be here?" Sasori's voice was rigid.

Sakura forced a smirk to show him that she wasn't intimidated by him, "He couldn't be a man and come take care of me himself?"

"He decided you were not worth the effort to physically show himself," A sinister chuckle escaped his thin lips, "In a normal situation, I would be annoyed from the laziness on his part. But I have not added anyone new to my collection in quite some time, so I am at peace with it this time around."

His collection? It didn't take a genius to figure out that Sakura did not want to know what he was referring to. A man like this…just standing in front of her, that sly grin on his face, she knew he was emotionless.

"You won't defeat me as easily as you expect to," Sakura took a step forward, her hand clenched around the handle on her kunai as she slowly withdrew it and held it to her chest. "And once I defeat you, he will have no choice but to reconsider."

The missing sand nin cackled chillingly at her remark, the terrifying puppet on his shoulders swaying with each breath he inhaled, only to be exhaled with demonic laughter. "He had one thing spot on, that is for sure," He said this confidently, "You really are a feisty one."

Sakura's eyes furrowed as she bent her knees to get ready to spring at him. _Do I really have a chance at someone like him?_ Her thoughts flowed through her head, _This man has been killing people since before I even became a ninja…he will kill me without blinking an eye!_

Sasori's eyes narrowed as he copied her movement, blue chakra strings attaching themselves onto every joint inside the dirt colored puppet. Before her eyes, it was as if it came to life. It hopped from the shinobi's shoulders and stood tall in front of him as he took a few steps back. He was a long ranged fighter, of course, so it made sense that he would remove himself physically from the battle as far away as he could manage. The puppet stared at Sakura as if it had the intent to kill in its own eyes.

Sakura had already come up with an advantage to winning the battle. _I need to get around his puppet and to him physically. That is the only way to defeat him. _She nodded as she began plotting ways to actually accomplish that. _He is a long ranged fighter…getting to him will be easier said than done, but its not impossible._

Sasori's expression soon turned from slightly amused, to having a hint of irritation. "I do not like keeping people waiting…" he said this blandly, "So let's get to it…shall we?"

"Come and get it then," Sakura responded in a tone that evenly matched his.

A smirk formed at the corner of his mouth, and in the next moment, he swung his right arm into the air, the chakra strings shook from the sudden movement, and the puppet followed his command.

Then, it was shooting right towards her, its mouth was unhinged with a long metal blade aiming right for her.

Although the appearance may have been intimidating to some, Sakura easily jumped over it as it lodged its long blade into the ground she had been standing on only a second ago. It quickly withdrew itself from the hard dirt, with a motion of one of Sasori's fingers, and was again heading right towards her as she was still falling in midair.

Knowing that in midair she would not be able to dodge it again, she threw the kunai in her hand with much power enforced behind it, towards the fast approaching puppet. The kunai collided with the blade perfectly, causing its movement to be forced off of its track, giving her enough time to effectively land on her feet.

Although the kunai had given her enough time to land on solid ground, it quickly adjusted itself back to Sasori's goal: Her. The puppet raced towards her again; The blade this time aiming for her chest. Sakura quickly withdrew another kunai and rather than dodging it again, she waited for it until the blade firmly collided with her kunai, a loud echo of the metal scraping together filled the forest around them.

The blade was only inches away from her breast, immediately realizing that his true target was her heart. She clenched her teeth as she fought against the blade with her knife. Knowing she could not physically hold the puppet at bay for long, she used her unoccupied hand to gather as much chakra as possible, and with one swift movement, she struck the puppets head with her knuckles. The impact from her godlike strength instantly sent the puppets head flying off of its hinge, the blade breaking from its mouth in one single blow.

Once the weight of the blade was gone, Sakura withdrew her kunai and jumped back a few feet away from the now headless puppet. She felt accomplished that she had destroyed the blade that had targeted her, but was not naive enough to believe that the blade was his only weapon.

"Tch," Sasori was clearly annoyed with her impact on his puppet, but was not affected much. With one index finger movement, the puppet was off of the ground and facing her once more. Its headless body had an undoubtedly eerie feeling, but Sakura quickly shook it off and prepared herself for what his next move was.

With a flick of his right hand, the chest on the puppet slid open, revealing four more identical blades to the one she just destroyed. Two laid over two and she gritted her teeth when she realized that these blades were even longer than the last one.

Without even a time to register, the puppet was flying at her again. Before she had time to react, it was right in front of her, already slashing away at her body.

She was able to duck and weave through each movement. The blades did not give her much of an opening, as soon as she dodged one, another one came cutting towards her. She knew she could not dodge them forever, so she strained her eyesight for an opening.

Finally, after one blade had almost directly sliced open her right forearm, she ducked onto the ground and found a clear two second opening. With all her might, she aimed a chakra filled fist at the bottom of the puppets torso. Just as before, the impact shattered the puppets body instantly, causing broken parts to fly in each and every direction. Once the blades had nothing more to hold onto, they came crashing down to the hard ground, lodging themselves deep into the soil.

Sakura panted as the impact on her hand began to sting, indicating that she had truly hit the puppet as hard as she could muster.

"What an annoying child you are," Sasori remarked irritably.

Sakura disregarded his comment as she quickly stood to her feet, watching him intently for his next move. It was true that she had completely shattered his puppet, but she knew that as a puppet master, he was bound to have many more puppets with him.

She was undoubtedly right when she watched him form another hand sign, thus summoning another puppet that looked quite different from the one she had just encountered.

This puppet was much shorter than the other, possibly only four feet tall, and had the body of what looked to be a child. Its face had no eyes, only black sockets that seemed to be blankly staring at Sakura. It was unclothed and completely covered in what seemed to be like sealed writing.

"It has been a while since I've used Yukio," Sasori flatly stated with a grin, "However, he is a favorite of mine."

Without another word, Sasori sent the small puppet flying with one movement of his arms. Needles began hurling out of every joint on the puppets body, shooting right for Sakura, and to her dismay, she realized that this puppet was a lot faster.

Quickly jumping out of the needles line of fire, she landed to the right of the puppet and began immediately throwing kunai at it while it hung in midair. Sasori easily moved it out of her range and changed its direction towards her. She withdrew a kunai and began reflecting every needle that came into contact with her. She was beginning to get confident when the puppet seemed to have stopped hurling needles at her, but was immediately taken back when she felt a needle that she unknowingly missed cut through her right shoulder.

She instantly fell to her knees, grasping the burning wound with her opposite hand. The feeling was indescribable as she quickly summoned green chakra to her palm and began attempting to heal the wound, but it did nothing. The burning only intensified as it slowly began to travel down her arm.

Sasori chuckled feet away from her, "I will give you this…you have managed to survive longer than any other opponent I usually come in contact with," He flicked his wrist and the puppet, Yukio, landed on its feet in front of her. Sakura looked up at the hollow eyes that were now staring down at her. "But now that I have cut you, you are finished."

"Poison?" The word escaped from Sakura's mouth as she continued to try and heal her searing wound.

Sasori nodded in confirmation, "Every weapon at my disposal is coated in an extremely lethal poison. If left alone, the victim will undoubtedly die within three days at the maximum. There is no cure for this poison…I have created it myself with combined toxins and chemicals that are even barely known by humans. The poison will quickly spread through your body and immobilize you," He grinned darkly and almost in a whisper said, "In other words, you are through with this fight."

Sakura let out a small gasp and clenched her teeth as the pain, just like he had mentioned, began to spread through her arm causing it to go into spasms.

_There…is…no way I'm going out like this…_She stammered in her thoughts.

Angrily, she looked up at the puppet that was still eerily staring her down. She growled, and with all her strength, stood to her feet. She screamed out loud, both from fury and pain, as she lunged at the small puppet. Before Sasori could react to her sudden unpredictable movement, she kicked the ground below where they were both standing, causing an earthquake like sensation to ripple through the ground. The hard soil immediately began to split, causing Sasori to be distracted. Aiming one last chakra filled fist, she screamed angrily,

"Get that creepy ass thing out of my face!"

Her fist made contact with the puppet, destroying it instantly. The chakra from her fist enhanced her strength to the point where not even parts flew in every direction like the previous puppet; instead, Yukio crushed to dust beneath her.

Sasori's expression was bewildered. He had clearly known of her brute strength, but was unbelievably appalled at the mere dust that remained of his puppet on the broken ground.

She jumped back onto unbroken territory and with her not yet affected hand, she reached into the pouch on her waist and retrieved a small vile filled with a purple liquid. Sasori, watching her intently, concluded that it were some kind of antidote as she quickly jabbed the needle in the vile into her thigh and clicked the button; releasing all of the violet liquid inside of her leg.

Sasori snorted sarcastically, "I applaud your effort, but as I previously mentioned, this is no ordinary poison. There is no cure to it, I have created it myself. Nothing known can counteract it."

Sakura began chuckling lightly under her panted breath, which caught Sasori by an unexpected surprise.

"You talk a big game," She panted wearily, "But you really are as clueless as you are sloppy."

Sasori's eyes filled with irritation and his eyebrows furrowed, "What did you say?" he said behind clenched teeth.

"Those sand ninja you killed during your little kazekage episode?" Sakura replied harshly as she looked up at him with cold eyes. She made him immediately recall the memory, "They didn't die in vain. Everybody you infected with your _unstoppable_ poison had exactly one tablespoon extracted during examination."

Sasori, instead of responding with an unnecessary remark, waited for her to continue.

She was amused at his sudden interest. "Those ninja still died, so you accomplished your short time goal, but the sand medics just could not figure out how to counteract the poison. So, guess who they sent a sample to?"

His eyes suddenly widened slightly.

Sakura let out a sarcastic chuckle as she stood back to her feet, the stinging in her arm was beginning to vanish slowly, and she could feel its effects beginning to wear off. "Even Tsunade had a tough time figuring it out, so I had a go at it…of course, since I was her student. In exactly twelve hours, I concocted the exact herbs and measurements to completely obliterate your toxins."

Sasori's teeth clenched, "That's impossible," he denied with a subtle shake of his head.

"No poison is impossible to find a cure for if you know what you're doing, but you're no medic ninja, are you?" Sakura smiled as she raised a brow at him, "Knowing I would come in contact with you sooner or later during my pursuit of the Akatsuki, I figured I couldn't be too cautious by bringing a couple antidotes with me. Seemed to have worked out well for me, don't you think?" she winked sarcastically at him. "Next time you try to go around killing people with your _unstoppable_ poision, try not to leave any behind for further experimentation. Its a rookie mistake, really."

Sasori suddenly had rage flowing through his body. How could this girl, this _child_, counteract a poison he had been working on for ten years? How could _she_ create a cure for his perfect poison in a mere twelve hours? How could this mere child outsmart someone like him? Could she even be better medic than the well known Sanin Tsunade?

And _she_ dared had the audacity of calling _him_ sloppy? A rookie, no less?

He had grown tired of her. This had gone on long enough.

He growled as he lifted up his arm, a blade shooting out of his own body, as he yelled, "You annoying little girl!" he cursed as he began running for her, "I will rip your guts out and hang you by your intestine!"

Although the antidote was working, it had not fully erased all the toxins yet, and Sakura was still weak. She quickly tried to prepare herself to dodge his attack, but collapsed to the ground instead; Immediately realizing that he was too quick and she would not make it in time. She cursed when she realized she had no kunai left to defend herself against his blade, either.

Even after this battle…she would still die here?

The blade was inches away from her nose when a voice called out from behind Sasori.

"Sasori!" the voice was loud and rigid.

Sasori stopped in his tracks. Sakura's eyes met contact with his as he stared down at her. Violet poison dripped from his blade directly in front of her face onto her lap.

Sakura looked past Sasori to see who the voice that yelled his name belonged to. She was stunned to see another Akatsuki member dressed in the usual black and red cloak, but this one was very strange looking. He closely resembled a venus flytrap; one side of his body was white and one side black.

His yellow eyes bored into Sakura's emerald ones.

Sasori's eyes slid to the side as he hissed from behind his teeth, "This will only take a moment, Zetsu. I am going to finish this brat." his eyes slid back to Sakura's, they held nothing but hatred behind them. "We will report to Pain that she is simply too weak."

_What are they talking about?_ Sakura's thoughts blazed through her head as her heart began to pump even faster through her chest.

"You will refrain from your mindless talking," Zetsu bitterly replied to which Sasori growled an irritated growl under his breath, "She has met every requirement Leader Pain has told me to take note of. She will be returning with us."

* * *

**Until Next Time,**

**xoxo**


	7. Chapter 7

Sakura's mind was in a vicious psychological frenzy. This had all been a mere test? Pain had actually took her request and made a choice to let her prove herself. She felt a smile begin to curl at the sides of her mouth.

Sasori, his eyes still filled with hate and irritation, withdrew the blade that emitted itself from his arm. He turned away from Sakura in a single movement and began walking the opposite direction of her. He did not say a word as he walked by Zetsu, purposely bumping into his shoulder as he passed. Zetsu neither said nor did anything. His yellow eyes just focused intently on Sakura.

Sakura did not feel as weak now that the antidote had several minutes to pass throughout her system. The cut only stung slightly on her shoulder, but she had been through worse injuries, and in no time it would heal barely leaving evidence that it had been there. She stood to her feet, her back arched tall as she met the strange looking Akatsuki member's piercing gold eyes.

He was such a strange fellow. Half of his body was ivory and the other half was ebony, and his entire body was engulfed in what looked like a venus flytrap. It traveled all the way down to his feet, barely covered to the ankle by his Akatuski cloak.

_What the hell is he? _Sakura swallowed.

"You are the fifth Hokage's student," Zetsu said after a long silence. It wasn't a question.

Sakura simply nodded in response.

Zetsu nodded as he slowly turned away, his back facing her. He looked over his shoulder and said, "Come with us."

"Where are we going?" Sakura deadpanned.

Zetsu did not reply or acknowledge her question. He simply began walking forward; Sasori was already many feet ahead of them and had mysteriously withdrawn a straw hat that she had not seen him with earlier and placed it on his head.

Not having much other choice in the matter, Sakura willingly followed them. She figured if they had not killed her, then she was officially in the Akatsuki.

…Right?

* * *

Itachi sat motionless as his organization leader explained to him in great detail what had occurred between he, Konan and Sakura. It was just as Tobi told Itachi, but he wanted to hear it from Pain himself.

"Why did you only inform Tobi of the situation with Sakura?" Itachi's tone was clipped.

"I was originally going to send him to take care of her, but decided against it," Pain replied stiffly, "Sasori seemed to be the better match for this particular fight."

Itachi gazed at him unemotionally, "Why?" the question was asked simply.

Pain intertwined his fingers, a motion he often did when he was fully thrusting himself in a conversation. "Sasori is very tactful. He knows how to restrain himself and rarely gets overheated in battle. He does not lose his head like many in the group, and if she proved useful, I did not want her dead."

Itachi subtly raised a brow, "I am also tactful." If not more tactful than Sasori.

Pain gave him a simple nod in agreement, "You are, but I did not want you going up against a leaf ninja. There is no doubt that she knows of you, being as your younger brother was her former teammate, and I did not want to complicate the matter further."

"Will it not complicate things if she is a part of us, if she hates me as much as you believe she does?" It was an obvious question.

"It may," Pain admitted, "But if she is serious about joining this organization like you are, she won't press the matter."

Itachi thought that was a lot to bet on, but he did not push the matter. If she were to come at him, he would kill her. It was simple.

"I have no more questions," Itachi replied plainly.

Pain nodded, "You are dismissed, then. Sasori and Zetsu should be back within a few hours. Be prepared for the meeting that is to follow."

Itachi nodded as he turned to exit the room.

* * *

They had traveled three hours without rest before they finally stopped at a small creek to take a rest. Sakura eyed both of the Akatsuki members, wary of their intentions, but relaxed slightly when they both rested without giving her a second glance. Zetsu stood against a tree, staring at the running water in the creek intently. Sasori sat on a rather large boulder, his back completely turned towards her. She passed by him to get to a deeper part of the creek so she could wade her mud filled sandals in it, and when she did so, Sasori glared daggers at her before turning away from her again.

She made a mental note that she would have to particularly watch Sasori and stay far away from him for a while. He was undoubtedly angry with her for overcoming his poison and mocking him. She would have to be more conscious of her actions around him until the air between them was cleared a bit.

They rested for several minutes. Several long, awkwardly silenced, minutes. Once Sakura was done cleaning her sandals and they were back on her feet, she stood tall and faced Zetsu.

"You are Zetsu," She stated firmly.

He did not reply, he only stared at her.

"I have to admit, I don't know much about you," She awkwardly continued on in the conversation, "There isn't too much data on you in the libraries. You rarely show your face to anyone outside of the Akatuski, right?"

"And?" The ivory side replied blandly.

She shrugged in response, "I don't know, tell me something about you." she suggested, "If we're going to be working together from now on…we should know a little about each other."

Zetsu returned a dark smirk to her comment, "You want to know something about us?"

She was caught off guard that he referenced himself as _us_ but she disregarded it and nodded.

"He has a split personality and he eats dead bodies," Sasori caught her off guard as he spoke without turning to face her. The comment undoubtedly caught her off guard, and she turned to meet Zetsu's hollow yellow eyes.

The black side made a snorting noise, "So don't die,"

The comment made her stomach churn. Split personalities? What kind of monster was this man? Of course, she realized that now that she would be meeting the other Akatsuki members, she would come in contact with many bizarre and unusual abilities. Reading data on these S rank criminals would only get her so far. She would not truly grasp what these people could do until she saw it for herself.

She decided that maybe small talk was not a good way to start her relationship with her new comrades.

"Why are you joining the Akatsuki?" The pale side of Zetsu brought her out of her own thoughts.

Sakura's eyes shifted to the ground, "It's…personal."

"A ninja usually doesn't just up and leave their village because they feel like it," Sasori deadpanned, still not looking at her. "One does wonder why a young kunoichi like yourself made the choice to leave her whole life behind her."

Sakura glared at him, although he did not see it, "You just up and left your village, didn't you?" she snapped.

"Hm," Sasori smirked to himself, "A girl like you shouldn't speak about things she knows nothing of,"

Sakura wanted to reply back with an edgy comment, but decided it was best not to push him further than he had already been pushed today.

"Resting times up," Zetsu lightened the air as he leaned away from the tree trunk, "Back on trail. We'll be approaching the compound in about two hours. No resting from this point on."

Sakura nodded eagerly as she gathered her few loose things into her backpack and set off with them a few moments later.

As they approached the compound closer, Sakura's stomach began to form into knots. She was going to meet the other Akatsuki members very soon and had to admit to herself that she was intimidated. There were bound to be some, if not all, that she would not get along with. One kept haunting her thoughts more than any other, however. One man, she hadn't even met yet, but already hated him with every nerve in her entire body.

Sakura had been so consumed in her thoughts and the pounding in her stomach that she had not even paid attention to what land they were in. She just followed absently behind the two Akatsuki members in front of her, Sasori leading the very front of their three man group. Zetsu would occasionally look back at her, almost as if he were reassuring himself that she was still back there, but would not say anything. He would just glance at her with those empty golden eyes and turn away.

Night began to fall when they finally reached the compound of where the Akatsuki were keeping themselves temporarily, and much to Sakura's surprise, it was rather normal looking. She quite honestly had expected a dungeon like hideout, with skeletons and chains on the walls, possibly prison cells that held prisoners along with screams of tortured victims. Thinking back on it now, it was quite silly of her to think like that. Rather than being greeted with what she imagined, she was instead greeted with a large traditional Japanese compound that looked very similar to the Hyuga's compound or the Uchiha's. The compound was in a strange location, however, it was hidden deep in a lush green forest, hidden by thousands upon thousands of trees. It was almost as if the compound had randomly been placed in the middle of a jungle, but then it occurred to Sakura, that it probably had. The compound was so deep in the forest, so far away from any roads or any other form of civilization, that other ninjas and civilians had no reason for going so deep into the woods. It was a very good place for an organization to gather, like the Akatsuki, because nobody would have ever expected something like it would be hidden so far in there.

As the approached the entrance to the compound, Zetsu and Sasori shifted to stand on either side of her. The three walked into the compound, Sakura immediately being greeted with a long hallway with a door at the end. They walked down the hallway and through the door at the end on the wall, and Sakura was then introduced to a rather large outside training area. The area was boxed in with steps that lead to the floor of the grounds. The small field held many straw dummies that had obviously been beat up and destroyed, along with other ninja tools like kunai and shuriken that lay idly on the dirt ground. They walked Sakura around the training area, Sakura noticing that on both sides of the training ground there were several doors that she assumed may have been rooms based on their size. Sakura's emerald eyes took in and examined everything. This truly was not what she expected…it was actually a very nice and comfortable place.

They continued on, going through a sliding door that led them out of the training area, to encounter another outside area that consisted of a small bathhouse. As much as Sakura was marveling at the very nice Akatsuki hideout, she was bothered that she had yet to see another member besides the two that were standing beside her.

Were they all awaiting her arrival?

They continued on walking through the compound that almost seemed like it would never end, until they came to a door that Sasori and Zetsu immediately stopped at. Sasori reached up and retrieved the straw hat from the top of his head, revealing a mess of red waves that fell over his ears and forehead. His brown eyes shifted down to Sakura, he was quite a bit taller than her; She had only come up to his shoulder.

"This is where Pain will meet you," Sasori's voice was stiff and his eyes still held a grudge within them as he glanced at her, "We will leave you here and await further orders."

Sakura nodded slowly as she looked to the other side of her and met Zetsu's gaze as well. He did not say anything, but agreed with Sasori's statement with a gentle nod.

"I just…go in?" Sakura shifted back to Sasori.

Sasori subtly nodded his head once.

Sakura swallowed, then sighed, as she placed her hand on the handle of the sliding door. She did not quite understand why she was so nervous. This was exactly what she wanted, she wanted to be a part of them, but something was making her stomach feel tight for an unknown reason. Was it because she was about to be admitted to an organization that she, not only six months ago, was determined to kill? Was it because she was going to be faced with a group of murderers and thieves that could easily kill her if they so desired?

Although, as much as that would scare a normal person, she internally knew that it wasn't the reason she was scared. The true reason she was nervous, was because she knew that once she opened that door and became a part of this group, she was forever gone from her previous life. Her friends, her village, every cherished memory would not matter anymore. She would become the thing that she hunted, except now, she would be the one _being _hunted. Up until this point, talking about truly leaving her life behind had been easy, but now that she was to the road of choice, her stomach was in knots.

But there was no turning back. She knew too much about them already, including where their compound was, and there was no way she would be leaving this place alive. She only had one choice, and that was to open the door and be greeted by her new leader.

She stepped forward and without thinking anymore about it, and slid the door open. It was almost pitch black inside, but was faintly lit with two candles on the walls opposite of each other, the flames dancing together to provide little light to the room. She was almost hesitant of stepping inside, her mind scaring itself of the unknown that laid inside of a dimply lit room. Overcoming her mind telling her to back away, she stepped forward, her sandal clad feet hitting the hardwood floor hard beneath her. She fully stepped inside the room and instinctively looked over her shoulder as she heard the sliding door closing behind her. Zetsu was closing the door and as the door was only cracked, she saw Sasori's brown eyes glaring into hers before it was suddenly cut off by the door slamming shut.

She turned her head back forward in the dark, not seeing a physical body, but feeling the presence of a large amount of chakra.

"You passed the test, I see," A familiar, but unseen, voice spoke from the dark.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows as she stood tall and nodded, "I did."

"Very well," the voice replied as footsteps echoed through the room, coming closer to her. As they became louder, Sakura could faintly see the brightness of violet orbs coming closer in the darkness. It was clear she was speaking to Pain.

He approached until he slowly revealed himself from the unknown blackness and was standing almost a foot away from her, Pains eyes glanced over her body as his pierced face looked her appearance up and down. The small flames on the walls flickered across his face, glares catching on each piercing on his nose and around his mouth. His eyes shone brightly, as if they were accustomed to being in such a dimly lit space. He stood tall before her, continuing to examine her intently before he finally formed a faint smirk at the corner of his pierced lips.

"We hope to see some use out of you," He voice hung in the darkness.

Sakura nodded her head once, "I assure you, you are making the right choice by admitting me. I will undoubtedly prove my worth and hold my own."

Pain's expression turned serious and his eyebrows lowered in concentration as he bored his purple eyes into Sakura's emerald orbs, "You say that you will prove your worth...does this include doing whatever means it requires to accomplish our long term goal?"

"It does," Sakura firmly stated.

"That includes taming the nine tailed beast, the child who is your former teammate," Pain's voice was clipped as he mentioned this. "Will you be able to look him in the eye as you kill him, if you are given that opportunity?"

Sakura hesitated at first. She had known that they would ask her about Naruto, but she had not fully registered until she was now standing in front of Pain that if she came in contact with him in the future, she would have to fight him...and _kill _him. She would have to do unspeakable things, not only to Naruto, but to other innocent lives as well if it mean't accomplishing their goal. She was uncertain at the moment of what exactly their goal consisted of, but she quickly convinced herself that she didn't care. She was a part of this now. Her old life was left behind at Konoha when she left along with her old relationships...

And that included her relationship with Naruto.

"Yes," She finally spoke, no hint of emotion was hidden in her voice as she confidently spoke, "I have no ties with him anymore."

Pain, although he did not appear completely convinced by her statement, nodded in satisfaction. "Welcome to the Akatsuki, Sakura." Her name echoed slightly in the pitch black room.


	8. Chapter 8

Itachi sat tall in his chair, facing the round black table. He watched as his present organization members began filing into the room, each taking their usual place in their seats. Pain sat at the head of the table, closest to the doorway. To his right sat Konan; His right hand woman. Next to Konan sat Kakuzu, since he was the organizations treasurer, his role was vitally important. Hidan sat next to Kakuzu, Deidara next to Hidan with Sasori next to him. Itachi sat next to Sasori with Kisame at his other side. Tobi sat between Kisame and Zetsu, leaving Zetsu at Pain's left side.

However, seating arrangements was not why Pain had brought them together for a meeting.

Once everyone was in their respective seating, Pain took his seat at the head and folded his hands together, waiting a brief moment before speaking.

"I have summoned you all here because there is a new matter that needs to be discussed," His authoritarian voice echoed slightly in the dimly lit meeting room.

"We have new information on the sound?" Kisame assumed, eager to hear what new information had been gathered.

"Please tell me we have some sort of attack plan or something," Deidara jumped off of Kisame's comment, "I'm getting bored of just wondering around the compound with nothing to do. There's only so much training you can do before you just start playing with sticks, un."

Konan shot Deidara a glance, "There is no new information currently. This is not why we were all summoned for this discussion."

Everyone perked up a bit after her comment. If they were not here for the matter of the sound village, then what other matter would be important enough for a mandatory meeting? Pain only ordered meetings when something indeed needed to be seriously discussed.

Itachi already knew, without saying, why this meeting at been brought together. He remained silent.

"Sasori and Zetsu went on a private mission I assigned to them," Pain spoke blandly. Everyone had known that Sasori and Zetsu had gone on a mission, but only Itachi, Konan and Tobi knew what that mission had been. Everyone around the table focused intently on Pain, "They have just returned an hour ago. They were sent to administer a test."

"Uh…a test?" Hidan raised a brow, "What the hell kind of test?"

"If you would shut your mouth for a few seconds and let Pain speak, we could probably find out what," Kakuzu taunted Hidan. Hidan angrily glared at him out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing.

"A young kunoichi tracked Konan and I for days while we were out on our scouting mission. Konan immediately picked up that we were being followed, and needless to say, we got to her before she was able to get to us."

"Okay," Deidara's expression was suddenly disinterested, "So you killed her. And?"

"We did not kill her," Konan replied stiffly.

Deidara looked a bit surprised at her comment. "Then what happened?"

"She expressed that she wished to join our ranks," Pain's ringed eyes flickered, "She is a recently reported missing-nin from Konoha. She discussed with us that her specialties are both inhuman strength and medical ninjutsu. She also shared that she is the fifth hokage, Tsunade's, student."

Sudden tension began to sink into the air. Kakuzu and Kisame narrowed their eyes, as Deidara and Hidan clenched their fists. Zetsu, Sasori and Itachi did nothing. Tobi's expression was unknown due to obvious reasons.

"A leaf ninja?" Hidan growled, "You should have killed her. Why are you telling us this?"

"We are telling you this," Pain leaned back in his chair and tucked his hands into the pockets in his cloak, "Because it has been decided that this kunoichi is to join our organization."

It was a sudden movement as the words escaped Pains mouth. Deidara and Hidan sprung to their feet in disbelief and began both cursing over each other, their statements too mixed together to understand fully what either one were saying. Sasori simply rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, irritation filling him of the immaturity of his teammate. Kakuzu felt the same.

"Silence!" Pain raised his hand to cut off the two mouthing shinobi, "Sit down, we are not done."

"You let another member into the Akatsuki?!" Hidan yelled over Pain's statement, "And a _woman_ no less?" Itachi's eyes flickered to Konan, who seemed to not be phased by the sexist comment. She was used to such treatment and comments from Hidan.

"She is skilled in medical ninjutsu, and will be assigned as our groups medic. She will accompany each team on assigned missions. Her name is Sakura Haruno," Pain replied, slightly agitated by Hidan's judgment of his choice.

"I don't give a shit what her _name _is!" Hidan barked back, "She's a leaf ninja. She's undercover or something and here to ruin the Akatsuki's goal!"

"What do you care about our goal, Hidan?" Kakuzu turned to the hot tempered immortal, "You only care about doing your ridiculous rituals. You could care less about anything else."

"Do not insult Jashin!" Hidan stabbed a finger into Kakuzu's chest, "Serving a higher purpose is a lot fucking better than being obsessed with worldly things like money!"

"Get your finger out of my chest before you lose it," Kakuzu growled darkly as he began to stand to his feet.

"We don't have anymore room for anyone else, un!" Deidara spoke up, causing everyone to shift their attention to the now speaking blond, "And we sure as hell don't need some brat following us around on missions, getting in the way!"

"We already have a brat who follows us around," Kisame spoke from beside Itachi, "Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?"

Just as Deidara was quite certainly about to lunge across the table, Pain stood to his feet and slammed his hands on the table, "That is enough! Kakuzu, Hidan, Deidara, take your seats. _Now_!"

Pain rarely ever got angry to the point of raising his voice and the rest of the members knew it. With minimal hesitation, the three followed orders and took their seats. A tension filled moment passed before Pain sighed and spoke again.

"The choice has already been made. Sakura came back with Zetsu and Sasori. She met every requirement that I asked Zetsu to take note of while Sasori fought her," Pain looked at Sasori and gestured toward him, "Please discuss details of your battle, Sasori."

Everyone's gaze shifted to Sasori who looked rather annoyed that Pain wanted him to discuss the battle that clearly did not go the way he had planned. Sasori had always been one to deny loss and he was a perfect strategist. Things rarely took a turn on the way he personally planned out his battles.

"She destroyed two of my puppets. One puppet, she completely smashed to dust with her strength. Focusing that amount of chakra into one attack indicates excellent chakra control. She has strength that equals, if not surpasses, that of Tsunade."

Everyone around the table, except for Itachi, looked somewhat surprised at the thought of someone being so strong. No one said anything as they waited for the red haired sand nin to continue.

He crossed his arms before he spoke again, a hint of a grudge flashed across his eyes that Itachi immediately picked up on. "She has excellent medical skills as well. She managed to…counteract my poison," He had to take a subtle breath before he could continue the statement, "During our last attack on the sand village, some of my poison was extracted and sent to Konoha. She counteracted it in twelve hours…or so she claims."

"What?!" Tobi yelled as Sasori finished his statement, "You mean that poison you worked on for _ten_ years?!" Tobi had known Sasori took great pride in his poison, that up until this point, had been unstoppable. He was merely taunting him now.

Sasori's eyes glared into Tobi's emotionless mask, "Do not push me, Tobi." Sasori obviously picked up on Tobi's challenge.

"In order to counteract such a mixture of toxins and chemicals, it is clear a medical ninja would have to have experience and understand exactly what they were doing. To perfectly counteract something as strong as Sasori's poison, such medical ninjutsu would have to be nearly perfect. Do you agree with this?" Pain motioned to Sasori for a response.

Sasori's brown eyes fell into slits as he replied dryly, "I concocted that poison for ten years. I myself could not even find a cure for it, and I created it. Such medical ninjutsu is nearly impossible." He rested his eyes, "Yet she did it."

"Sasori Senpai is bitter," Tobi chuckled to himself.

Before Sasori could jump across the table to strangle the orange masked nin, Pain brought the conversation back in motion. "The Akatsuki has never been fortunate enough to have an extremely experienced medical ninja. The fact that she knows precisely what she is doing to the point of curing Sasori's poison, is an amazing feature. We would be foolish to not use her abilities to aid us in our long term goal."

Hidan groaned, the mere sound irritated Itachi. "Okay? So what now?"

"Now you will meet the new Akatsuki member," Pain glanced from the immortal to the doorway, "Sakura, please enter the room."

* * *

They all stared at her. Every eye was glued to her as she stepped into the room, still dressed in her usual ninja clothing, she felt out of place. She slowly walked to Pain, who was now standing, avoiding the wondering eyes that followed her with every step as she approached the sunrise haired leader. Her shoes tapped against the hard floor beneath her.

"Thank you for joining us," Pain said as Sakura stood by his side. "Please turn so you can be greeted by the rest of the organization members."

Sakura gave him a quick nod and swallowed hard as she turned to face the room full of S-rank criminals. Her heart jumped into her throat as she saw that a few of them were glaring at her. A white haired man and a blond; the blond looked young, maybe close to her in age. The white haired man simply looked as if he were furious of her presence. She concluded that these two must be Hidan and Deidara and had honestly expected their reactions from the data she had read on them. Next to Hidan, sat a member that must have been Kakuzu based on his database picture. He looked at her as if he wanted to jump across the table and rip her heart out.

The others did not give an identifiable reaction. Zetsu and Sasori, whom she already met, just looked at her as if she were not in the least bit interesting. The man with the orange mask, clearly he was Tobi, was bouncing up and down in his seat like a child. His body suggested that he was excited, but his expression was clearly hidden. The blue skinned shinobi next to him, obviously Kisame, simply smirked at her without saying anything.

Then her eyes drifted to him. She immediately recognized him. His uncanny resemblance of Sasuke, those crimson orbs shining in the dimly lit room staring into her. She felt as if he were looking into her very soul. Her stomach churned as they stared at each other in silence, as if nobody else were in the room with them. His emotionless face examined her. He did not look the least bit interested in anything about her. She clenched her teeth behind her closed lips.

He was the one who ruined Sasukes life. The man who killed his entire clan without batting an eye. The true evidence of evil in the world, sat only a few feet away from her, a blank expression on his pale face.

She wanted to shove her fist down his throat and watch him suffer.

"I assume you already know of everyone. You seem to have had reliable access to databases about the Akatsuki in your village," Pain's chilling voice brought her out of her violent thoughts.

She shifted her eyes from Itachi's, to Pain's and nodded. "I am familiar with everyone's faces." she confirmed.

"Very well," Pain nodded as he turned to the rest of the black cloaked members, "As everyone is aware, the Akatsuki has a maximum of ten members. Being as we are at full capacity at the moment, Sakura will not participate in any tailed extractions until a spot is opened. Rather, Konan and I discussed that she would be better on the sidelines to heal anyone who may be weakened by the extraction process. The main role Sakura will have in the Akatsuki is medic. We have already discussed this with her and she agrees."

Sakura nodded to confirm, "I understand my duties."

"And what if one of us dies?" Tobi blurted loudly, "What will she do then?"

"In the event of an organization members death, Sakura will step down from her primary medic duties and take on the task of that previous members role."

"Tch," Deidara rolled his eyes. Sakura ignored it.

Pain turned to Sakura, "You will be given a ring to confirm that you are a member, but your ring will not possess the ability for extractions unless someone dies. Your ring is solely for communication purposes."

"However, since we have never had eleven Akatsuki members before, we do not possess your ring at the moment," Konan stepped into the conversation. She pushed some dark strands out of her eyes as she said, "We are in the current process of retrieving one for you."

"I understand," Sakura replied.

"Good," Pain nodded, "You are an official member now and will be staying with us here. We travel from compound to compound to avoid being tracked. Do not get too comfortable here, we are only staying for a maximum of another two weeks."

Sakura simply nodded to confirm she understood.

Pain turned to the rest of the members who were eerily silent. This disturbed Sakura. It was clear that she was not wanted here. Especially by the one who possessed the sharingan that felt like it was staring holes into her face.

"You all are to treat Sakura like a fellow member. I do not care if you all do not like each other. That is not what this organization is about, nothing matters other than our goal. You will not do anything to Sakura that will jeopardize our mission."

Sakura swallowed at Pain's words. He had very subtly told them that they weren't allowed to kill her. She shifted her eyes towards the criminals in front of her. Hidan caught her gaze with a sinister smirk. It sent chills down her spine.

"Tobi," Pain looked at the far too eager ninja.

"Yes, Senpai!" he responded.

"Show Sakura to her room," he ordered, his violet eyes shifting to Sakura, "Unpack your things and rest. Tomorrow, you are going to be assigned to your first mission. You will need your strength. I will discuss the mission details later in the evening when you have had a moment to rest."

Sakura was honestly caught off guard that Pain was assigning a mission to her so quickly, but she shrugged it off. This was a serious organization; They did not exactly have the time for a welcome party. She simply nodded in response. She would not fail her first mission and she would show her new leader that she was a valuable asset.

"You all are dismissed," Pain said with a wave of his hand. Everyone stood up and began leaving the room almost immediately, throwing many glares in Sakura's direction as they exited. She made a mental note to herself that she would have to stay under the radar for a few days until they got used to having her around.

She didn't mind the glares as they left, in fact she managed to shrug most of them off, but as Itachi Uchiha walked across the room without even looking at her, she felt a fire start to burn inside of her.

_He thinks I'm not even worth a second look, _Sakura growled to herself. The very presence of him made her sick. The too familiar resemblance of Sasuke, the confident way he walked, she hated him. Despised him.

Then he was gone. And a large orange blur suddenly filled her vision.

"Sakura Senpai!" Tobi grabbed her shoulders in his hands and began jumping up and down in front of her. She was immediately confused and was caught quite off guard from his reaction to her. The glares, she expected. But this was a reaction she was totally unprepared for. "Welcome to the Akatsuki! Tobi's name is…well, Tobi. Tobi thinks he will get along very well with Sakura!" He giggled to himself as he awkwardly brought Sakura into a hug.

Sakura awkwardly shrugged it off and pulled away from the excited shinobi, giving him forced half smile, "Its, uh, nice to meet you, Tobi," she said as she took a step away from him.

He leaned forward and grabbed her elbow eagerly, "Tobi will show you to your room! It is a very nice and clean room, you will enjoy it there! Tobi thinks this is his favorite compound!" he instantly began leading Sakura forcefully by her arm out of the room. She looked back at Pain and Konan who were still standing at the table. Pain shook his head in disapproval at Tobi's behavior. Konan shot her a very subtle smirk.

As Tobi lead her through the hallway to her room, she had to admit to herself that she was very caught off guard at his behavior. She had not expected someone, especially an S-rank criminal in the Akatsuki, to have such a personality that better suited a child. But she refused to believe his act and that he was an innocent as he seemed. There was a reason he was in the Akatsuki. What true power did he possess? Just how many people had the child like shinobi killed?

In a few moments, as Tobi rambling about something Sakura was not paying attention to, they reached a black sliding door that was in between two other rooms. Tobi let go of her elbow and eagerly slid the door open without hesitating, revealing a very lit room with a bed in the right corner and a small desk in the left. Other than these things, the room was bare, but Sakura had expected so. The Akatsuki did not stay in one compound for too long, so it was unnecessary for the compound to hold anything other than means for sleeping and temporary storage.

"This will be Sakura's room!" Tobi exclaimed as he stepped in, spreading his arms open as if to embrace it. "Your room is in between Deidara Senpai's and Itachi Senpai's. Deidara Senpai is to your right, Itachi Senpai is to your left."

Sakura shuttered. Itachi's room was next to hers? She hoped she would not have to come in contact with him anymore than what was necessary.

Tobi must have noticed her facial expression of displeasure, because he then said, "Is Sakura Senpai alright?"

"Yes, thank you, Tobi. And please, just call me Sakura," She said as she began taking off her backpack and placing it on the ground next to the sliding door.

"Tobi calls everyone Senpai because he wants to be respectful to his masters," Tobi responded.

"You don't have to be respectful to me like that," Sakura deadpanned as she began unzipping her bag, "Just Sakura, please."

Tobi did not respond for a moment, then just shrugged and said, "If you insist, Sakura!" he exclaimed excitedly. His enthusiasm was starting to wear on her.

"Thank you. I'm sorry, I would like to unpack now, if that's alright," she subtly hinted for him to leave so she could have a moment to process her current situation.

"Yes, of course! Tobi will leave now," he replied as he walked around her and stood in the doorway, "If Sakura needs anything, Tobi's room is across the training field at the end of the hallway. Tobi is happy to help!"

Sakura faked a smile in return as Tobi quickly shut the door to give her privacy to her room. She sighed after she made sure he was gone. She looked around her small room, taking in the sight and smell. This was where she would be staying for a few weeks, then they would move onto another compound. She would never truly have a _home_ again.

She heard rustling from the next room over that brought her attention away from her thoughts. It was from the left; meaning it was Itachi's room. She grimaced at the thought that Sasuke's older brother was only a room away, only a wall separating them. She knew she would be forced to interact with him eventually, but she noted to herself that she would stay away from him for as long as she possibly could. She did not want to interact with him, and it was obvious he did not care for her either.

She wanted to keep it that way.

* * *

Later that evening, Pain had summoned Sakura through a very eager Tobi, just like he had promised. She met him in the meeting room they had been in only a few hours ago. She realized that she was the only one in the room with Pain; Even Konan was not present this time.

She sat across from him, meeting his eyes respectfully as his purple eyes explored her face.

"I trust that you have settled in?" He blankly stated after a brief moment of pause.

She nodded, "The room is very comfortable."

"Good," He nodded once, "The only available room was between Itachi and Deidara. It was originally being used as a storage, but we moved storage elsewhere. It is a bit smaller than the other rooms, but I trust it will suit you nicely."

"It meets beyond expectations," Sakura remarked.

Pain simply nodded to her response, "I am under the impression that you already know of Itachi. You were on the same team as his brother, correct?"

Sakura knew that her knowledge of Itachi was going to be brought up eventually, but she still did not quite know how to respond to it, "Yes." she confirmed.

"Whatever ill feelings you have towards him is not my concern," Pain blankly stated as he intertwined his fingers, "However, you will see to it that your personal feelings will not interfere with your work for us."

Sakura swallowed and nodded. She understood, that although she hated him, she would have to work with him. And she would have to put away her grudge against him while working. "I understand."

Pain nodded, "Now that matter is addressed, I will speak to you about your mission tomorrow. It is nothing short of an errand. You will accompany Itachi and Kisame to a small village along the Fire Country border for retrieve some money that is due. Itachi and Kisame are aware of the entire situation, you are not required to know everything. You are just to accompany them and heal them if you are to run into any trouble, which is doubtful. It is a simple mission so that you can step into your role as part of the Akatsuki. Nothing more." Pain explained.

Sakura nodded, although she very much wanted to object to her having to go on a mission with Itachi. She bit her tongue. She would not cause a scene, especially since she had just agreed she would put aside her differences for the greater good of the mission. She would have to work with him now, regardless of how much she hated him.

"Itachi and Kisame already know of the mission. You will be leaving with them in the morning. Get some rest tonight and pack whatever essentials you need. You are dismissed."

The rest of the evening went smoothly, although Sakura mainly kept confined to her room. She rested on the bed and evaluated her entire situation. She was happy, of course, that she had been accepted to the Akatsuki. That had been her goal since she left Konoha. But she could not deny that she was worried about how she would work with her new comrades. They were older than her and more experienced. The only one who seemed to have liked her so far was Tobi, although she got a strange feeling from him that she could not exactly identify.

However, she managed to put aside all her worries and got a decent amount of sleep that night. She had not realized how truly tired she was.

The next morning as she was sitting on the floor, getting her kunai and shuriken together, Kisame surprisingly slid open her room door without knocking. He stood in the doorway, fully dressed and ready for traveling. He simply smirked at her when she shot him a menacing glare.

"You ever heard of knocking?" She asked harshly. She had not meant to be so harsh with him, knowing that her attitude would not win any favors with her new comrades, but she could not hide her annoyance. She began thanking God that she had not been changing.

"Sorry, mostly guys in the Akatsuki. Never really had to knock before," Kisame raised a brow and smiled, showing all the rows of his sharp teeth.

"Hm," Sakura responded as she shifted her view from him back to her pack. "I'm almost ready, Ive just got a few more things to pack."

"I'm curious, kunoichi," Kisame remarked, slightly catching her off guard with his tone. She looked up at him.

"About?" She picked up a medium sized shuriken and placed it in her pouch.

"Why would someone with an entire life up and leave it?" Kisame asked as he subconsciously stroked the hilt of his sword, "Most runaway nins have hard pasts. Their daddies didn't love them, or something. But you? You had everything. Parents, friends, a completely clean record. Why throw it all away?"

Sakura slammed a shuriken a little too hard into her pouch, a loud clinging echoed the small room. She had not expected him to just bluntly ask her about her private business. She thought about how to respond for a moment, she clearly did not want to get into her private matters with someone she barely just met, and said, "Its personal. I don't feel like getting into it."

Kisame snorted, "Whatever. I could care less. Just makes a guy wonder what in the world someone like you is thinking."

"It is Sasuke," A whisper, so quiet that Sakura had barely heard it, mumbled from behind the tall blue skinned shinobi.

But she did hear it. She tilted her head to look around Kisame, and immediately regretted the choice.

Itachi was standing behind Kisame, fully clothed in his black cloak, an emotionless expression plastered along his delicate features.

Sakura felt her face begin to get hot as she placed her kunai holster on the bed before shooting him a stare that would surely stop his heart if looks could kill. "What did you just say?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly from anger.

Itachi met her gaze even harder, "Sasuke is the reason you left. Is it not?" He took a step forward into the room, now standing next to Kisame. He was quite a bit shorter than the shark resembled shinobi, only coming up to his neck.

Sakura fought to hide the shaking in her voice, but failed when she responded with, "I told you its personal. Stop asking me." Her green eyes fell into slits as she glared daggers into Itachi's sharingan. She slowly stood up from the ground to better meet the Uchiha's gaze.

Emotionless. That's all she saw as she looked at him.

Kisame simply smirked next to Itachi, not saying anything but also not needing to. His expression represented very well what his inner thoughts were.

Although Itachi had received the clear warning to back off of the subject, he continued to press her. To test her. "You found yourself quite different after Sasuke died. Perhaps the thought of not saving him haunts you. Or the thought of the unknown scares you. The thought of Sasuke before he died, when Orochimaru-"

Itachi was forcedly silenced when Sakura's hand struck across the Uchiha's face, knocking Itachi back a few inches from the sudden contact. Kisame stiffened, as he had not foreseen the attack either, and he watched as Itachi uncharacteristically stumbled back. A red hand print identical to Sakura's palm began forming onto the Uchiha's pale cheek, burning escalating as minimal pain began to surf through his face.

Itachi would have been lying if he denied that the slap had not taken him off guard. He did not show reaction, however, he just stood back up straight and ignored the pulse in his right cheek. His crimson eyes met Sakura's emerald ones in a swift movement. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her teeth were clenched, and veins were popping out of her neck. She was absolutely furious.

It had happened so fast. It had not even registered that she had slapped him until she saw the print begin to appear on his face. She could not understand where the courage to slap Itachi had come from. All she saw was red.

"Don't you ever," Sakura's tone was overly emotional, "Say his name. Don't you dare say Sasuke's name to me. You don't have that right!"

Kisame simply glanced at Itachi, curious of what his reaction would be. In a normal situation, if Itachi had been physically attacked, he would trap them in a genjutsu or physically attack them back. But he did neither. He just stared at the pink haired kunoichi, his eyes narrowed. He could feel his facial wound already begin to bruise. The strike had undoubtedly had been packed full of chakra.

After a brief moment of silence, Itachi simply responded with, "Hm," and turned to leave the room. His disregard for Sakura's attack annoyed her, but she was not surprised that he had responded that way. Kisame simply snorted to himself and turned to leave with him.

Right as Itachi took a step out of Sakura's room, he heard her state clearly, "His blood is on _your_ hands."

He decided to also disregard that comment.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, I am alive. And this chapter was pretty long to write! I'm sorry for the later updates. Ive been a lot busier with work and sadly, the next chapter may be yet again late. It just depends on how much free time I will have. Thank you for reviewing! Im also sorry if theres any errors in the chapter, I will go through it tomorrow and make changes if needed, I kind of tried to fly through it as fast as possible. Its late and I need to get in bed for work!**

**Until Next Time,**

**xoxo**


	9. Chapter 9

The cold creek water rushed over Sakura's sandal clad feet as she slid her shoes into the water. She sat on the grass ground beside the creek, the water only reaching above ankle, and enjoyed the cool sensation that filled her as her sore soles were greeted with refreshment. She glanced over at Kisame who was on the other side of the creek rewrapping Samehada; He claimed the sword needed to be newly wrapped every other day because the sharp scales on the sword easily wore them out. He sat with his own feet in the water and the bottom of his cloak dipped into the water slightly.

His beady eyes gazed towards Sakura, realizing that she had been staring at him. She quickly looked away, feeling her cheeks get a bit hot from being caught staring.

She turned her head to the right and grimaced. Itachi was only a few feet away from her, sitting at the base of a tree, splotched shading from the leaves covered his perfect Uchiha features. A purplish blue bruise lingered on his delicate cheek from where Sakura had slapped him in the face before they left for the mission. They had left two days ago and it still appeared to be healing rather slowly, indicating that Sakura had packed more chakra into it than she had intended. Since the altercation, Itachi had not spoken a single word to Sakura; Every bit of communication with her had been from Kisame. His right arm was rested behind his head and his left hand was placed on the kunai pouch on his thigh. Even at a resting point, Itachi was always alert of his surroundings and ready to jump into a fight.

_Just what I would expect, of course, _Sakura thought.

"You must have never learned manners in the leaf village," Kisame's rigid voice barked from across the running creek.

Sakura shifted her head to his direction, "What did you say?"

"Manners," Kisame repeated as he continued wrapping the middle of Samehada, "Ever heard of them?"

Itachi's eyes slightly shifted to Sakura as he waited for what her reply would be.

Sakura was puzzled by the sudden question, "Why?"

"You keep staring," Kisame raised an almost nonexistent brow, "You ever been taught that staring is rude?"

She huffed at him, "I wasn't staring. I was observing." she quickly retorted. "Besides, you must have been staring at _me_ to notice that_ I _was staring. Aren't you being a hypocrite?"

Itachi's crimson orbs shot back to Kisame's unidentifiable expression.

After a quick moment, Kisame simply just smirked at her, showing his rows of sharp teeth. "Pain was right, you are feisty."

Sakura ignored his comment and pulled her feet out of the water so she could stand up to stretch. Her feet ached as she put her weight back on them. They had traveled almost nonstop for two days, only stopping one other time for some quick sleep. Sakura was not used to going that long without some form of rest, but she did not dare complain. She did not want to seem weak and drag her comrades down.

However, the pain that jolted through her joints could not be ignored for much longer. She was thankful that in a days time, they would reach their destination and retrieve the money they were sent for. She would just have to push herself through one more day then she could rest for a while. Or at least, that's what Kisame told her.

Sakura reached into her back pouch and felt around. After a moment of feeling, she retrieved what she was looking for; a pack of joint boosters. The meds were only used in emergencies, since they could have a few side effects hours later, and were only prescribed through the Konoha clinic. Since she worked in the clinic and hospital, it was very easy for her to get the medicine, and she always carried them around just in case of long mission emergencies. She felt embarrassed, since in no way was this considered a long mission, but she shrugged it off. She couldn't allow herself to feel guilt when her sore joints had the potential of making her dead weight on this mission.

She quickly unwrapped the pack of pills, fully noticing out of the corner of her eye that Itachi was watching her. Ignoring him, she shoved one pill in her mouth and swallowed it. She reached into the pack around her hip to retrieve her small bottle of water, then took a drink to help the pill go down easier. Before she had left, Pain had given her a black belt along with a medium sized pack that attached directly onto the belt. He told her that she would be using it for traveling rather than using her backpack.

"_We use this belt and pack because it is easily hidden under our cloaks and cannot be identified by enemies. We do not travel with backpacks because that would be easier for the enemy to grab us from behind. The only things we take with us on missions are kunai, shuriken, yen and food or medication pills. The rest is not necessary."_

His reasoning's certainly made sense, but Sakura would definitely have to get used to not having as much storage space with her when she traveled. The pack was not even half the size of her normal backpack and she could not even hide it because she did not yet have her official Akatsuki cloak. She was still dressed in her usual pink outfit, once again feeling like the odd man out while standing next to Itachi and Kisame. Konan had assured her that the cloak and her ring would be ready for her once she got back. Since the Akatsuki had only ever had ten members, the add of the eleventh would require some new items.

As the pill began to digest inside of her, she could already feel her joints begin to loosen. The joint booster was truly a miracle pill and she understood why it was not over the counter. Many ninja got addicted to them easily on missions and would end up with horrible side effects.

"Joint boosters?" Itachi's chilling voice caught her off guard as it came from only a few inches from behind her.

Sakura quickly turned around, her emerald eyes meeting Itachi's sharingan in an instant. He was quite a bit taller than her, she only reached up to the top of his shoulder when she stood next to him. His head was inclined slightly as his crimson orbs flickered from the pills in her hand, to her face. He was so quick and quiet, she had not even noticed him get up from the tree he was sitting at a few moments ago. The sun fell on the purple bruise on his pale cheek.

Sakura quickly hid the pills behind her back, "Their not joint boosters," she lied, "Their food pills."

"I have never come across food pills that can simply be swallowed without any chewing involved," Itachi replied quietly, "Usually only medications require that."

Sakura wanted to slap him again and leave another matching bruise on his opposite cheek, "Why are you watching me?"

Itachi's eyes flickered, "I'm observing." His tone bit back unemotionally.

Kisame subtly snickered behind Sakura.

"Well, stop it," Sakura sneered back as she tucked the boosters back into her pouch. "I don't need to be watched like I'm a child."

"Do you need a longer rest?" Itachi asked, the question catching Sakura off guard. "We can rest longer, if that would make it easier for traveling."

To a normal person, Itachi's "concern" may have been heartwarming and kind. But to Sakura, it lit a flame in her stomach that made her face turn a light shade of furious pink. She noted the subtle twitch at the side of his mouth, indicating that he was holding back a smirk. He was not concerned about her well being at all; He was trying to mock her. He was trying to get her to admit that she was weaker than him.

Sakura bit her lip so hard that it almost brought blood to refrain herself from smacking him again.

"I don't need anymore rest!" she yelled angrily, "Don't pretend that you care about my well being at all. You could care less, so stop pretending!"

"Hn," was all that Itachi replied with as he turned and walked away from her. She dug her fingernails into her palm as she clenched her fist. She watched Kisame attach Samehada to his back and follow behind Itachi without saying a word to her. It was clear that she was indicated to follow.

As she took a step forward, trying to swallow the anger that bellowed inside of her, Kisame turned around with a sly grin at his lips.

"Don't lag behind, kid," He commented as he turned around to lunge into a tree.

* * *

Sakura was glad that she took the joint boosters, because if she hadn't, she would have certainly not made it through the next days journey. By the time they got just outside of their destination, Sakura felt as if she were going to collapse. She was running low on food pills-regrettable under packing them-she only had about four left that she would have to make last for the travel back to the compound. And she absolutely refused to ask Kisame or Itachi for some.

_I'd rather starve,_ She bitterly announced to herself.

Finally after three days of nonstop motion, they had reached their destination. It was a certainly a small village outside of the fire country border, just like Pain had said. The three of them entered the village, earning stares of fright and confusion as the black cloaked members walked by. They were obviously aware that the black cloak with red clouds were the Akatsuki, and reacted just as Sakura would expect normal civilians to react. However, once their eyes were done wandering at Kisame and Itachi, they looked at Sakura with concern. They undoubtedly wondered why a normal looking kunoichi was wandering around with the likes of the Akatsuki. Sakura heard unidentifiable whispers as she walked by, but paid them no concern. She was just more focused on the fact that she may feel more comfortable walking next to them when she finally had her own cloak and ring.

But she could not deny the feeling of intimidation that sunk in the air as they walked by. Itachi and Kisame were feared; it was well known that they were powerful and the civilians knew it as they cowered behind their closed doors. Just six months ago, Sakura would have felt bad that these innocent people were in fear of their lives, but now, she was exhilarated and could not wait until she would be able to walk by and people would be intimidated by her.

That is what true power must feel like.

They walked until they reached a small, dark alley between a bakery and a weapon shop. The smell of the bread in the bakery filled Sakura's nose and made her mouth water and her stomach ache even more.

Itachi and Kisame stopped and turned, eyeing each other under their straw hats.

"Who's going this time?" Kisame's voice spoke from behind his black collar. "I went last time."

"I will go," Itachi's tone was cold as always, as he turned and began walking down the dark alley with not another word.

Sakura's eyes followed him until he reached a door at the end of the alley, one she had not noticed before. He stood in front of it, knocked on it four times then again three times, then the door cracked open slightly. He walked inside without hesitation. Sakura obviously knew that Itachi had knocked that many times because it was a secret code that only the people inside knew. She wondered who they were sent to collect money from, and why it was in such a dark and suspicious place.

"Their a secret organization," Kisame's voice was muffled behind his collar.

"What?" Sakura replied, surprised that it was almost as if Kisame had been reading her mind.

"We're collecting money from a secret organization," His beady eyes shifted to her under his hat, "Their like a cult, almost. They kind of remind me of something religious, kind of like Hidan, but they worship some other weird God or something. Anyway, they hire us sometimes to kill people needed for rituals. Sasori killed someone for their stupid ritual about a month ago, and they hadn't paid up yet. So we're here to collect. Most of the civilians think that door back there is just an empty storage shop."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed, "They kill people for rituals? What kind of sick bastards to that?"

Kisame smirked, "If you think that, then you'd better not get too close to Hidan."

Sakura felt a cold chill rush through her, "Who do they…kill?"

Kisame shrugged, "Beats me. Mostly rich snobs. Don't ask me why."

"And you just go along with it?" Sakura felt sick to her stomach, she wasn't sure if it was because of the hunger or because of the information she just learned. Perhaps it was both.

Kisame flashed his teeth to her, "Its easy money. You will learn that in this organization, our biggest goal right now is funds. It doesn't matter where they come from or how dirty our hands get. This is what you signed up for, kid."

Sakura swallowed. She knew that the Akatsuki were murderers, why was something like this bothering her? She had to shake it off. If things like this bothered her now, she would never make it in an organization like this.

And not making it wasn't an option.

A short moment later, Itachi emerged from the door with a brown sack in his hand. The door slammed shut behind him. He did not even bat an eye as he approached Kisame and Sakura, sliding the sack into his cloak and into his pouch.

"That the money?" Kisame asked almost in a whisper.

Itachi nodded, "There were minor complications. But it was easily resolved."

"Minor complications?" Sakura spoke outloud without thinking, "What happened?"

Itachi's eyes shifted to her, "Nothing I could not handle." His words made Sakura's heart beat faster in her chest. The coldness of his calm voice was eerie.

Before Sakura could reply, Kisame spoke first, "Right then. Back to the compound." He looked at Sakura with a toothy grin, "Easy as that. Not a hard first mission, eh?"

Sakura subtly clutched her rumbling stomach, the smell of the fresh bread of the bakery dancing inside her nostrils. Just as she were about to reach into her pouch and grab a food pill that she could not deny any longer, it dawned on her that they were in a village where she could buy more food pills. Itachi and Kisame began walking ahead of her, when she reached out and grabbed Kisame's shoulder. He turned to look at her, a hint of irritation on his face that she had physically touched him.

"Where's a store that sells food pills?" Sakura asked.

"Why?" Kisame replied, "Running low, are we?"

Sakura ignored him, "It won't take but a minute."

"Hate to break it to ya, but they don't have quick stuff like food pills here. Its too small of a town for ninjas to frequently visit, so there's no need for them."

Sakura groaned. Would four food pills really be enough to last her on her travels back home?

Itachi suddenly reached into the pouch on his belt and retrieved a small cloth bag. He stepped over and pressed it into Sakura's open palm, leaving Sakura with her mouth hung open as if she were going to object.

"Take mine," Itachi spoke first. "I wont need them. I am strong enough to make it back on my own." His words cut her.

Again, he was not feeling pity or concern to her. He was proving the point that he was stronger, that he was above her. He did not need things like food to make it through his mission. _He_ wasn't weak like _she_ was.

Filled with rage, Sakura threw the pouch onto the hard ground, food pills scattering out in the dirt.

"I don't need your fucking charity!" Sakura yelled loud enough to draw attention the few local civilians around them.

Without another word, she stomped past them, purposely shoving her shoulder into Itachi's as she passed him. Itachi did not react, his facial expression was blank as he turned to watch her run out of the small village, local's inching away into the nearest building to avoid any type of conflict.

Sakura did not care that people were watching her outside of their windows as she ran out of the village, leaving Itachi and Kisame. She was angry that Itachi looked at her as if she needed to be taken care of like a kid. That he was so superior to her. She did not care if she had to run all the way back to the compound by herself, she just had to get away from that man.

She ran for about fifteen minutes, back into the woods and through the treetops, until her stomach forced her to stop. Without even hesitating this time, she took two of the four food pills and forced them down with a quick drink of water. She would make it back to the compound on her own and she would do it easily with the remaining sustenance she had.

Before she was about to continue, she noticed that her joints were beginning to ache again. Without even a thought about the matter, she perched herself against the trunk of a tree and reached into her pouch to intake another joint booster. She had not felt any side effects from the last one, and hoped she would not feel any with this one either. This one would be enough for her to get back on her own.

Just as she opened her mouth to put the joint booster in, she heard a faint rustling of tree limbs and leaves behind her. She assumed it was Itachi and Kisame catching up with her.

She growled as she quickly turned around, "I am not traveling back with you guys, I can get there myself-"

She was silenced by kick across her face, the sudden, unavoidable impact sent her flying backwards down onto the grassy forest floor.

The kick was clearly chakra packed and had sent Sakura into the earth a few feet, the ground cracked around her as if an earthquake had hit. It was very similar to what would happen to the ground if Sakura were to punch it.

Dazed, Sakura placed her hand on her throbbing right cheek, feeling it swell almost immediately under her touch and bruising instantly began to start. Her right eye had temporarily lost its vision from the kick.

She squinted her right eye closed as she glanced up with her left eye, trying to indicate where the attack had come from. She almost expected it to have been Itachi finally paying her back for when she had smacked him, but was surprised to see that it was not in fact Itachi, but a shinobi she had never seen before.

The shinobi jumped down from the tree branch that Sakura had been on just a few seconds ago, and landed in front of Sakura who was still lying on the earth rubble. It was a man with black hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a black jumpsuit that strangely looked similar to something Rock Lee and Guy would wear, with a hidden cloud headband tied around his forehead.

Sakura clenched her teeth under her swollen cheek as she looked up at the unidentifiable ninja, "Who the hell are you?!"

The ninja stood above her and smiled darkly, "You don't know me, but I sure do know you…Sakura Haruno…" The man smiled. He looked to be around twenty five or so in age.

Sakura shifted so she could stand to her knees as he said her name, "How do you know my name?!" She demanded.

" All you need to know is that I am the one who will be returning you to the leaf village and getting that bounty that's being advertised all over the place," he responded with an arrogant chuckle.

_Of course_, Sakura cursed to herself, _He's just a random ninja who's been tailing me so he can get the bounty that's on my head._

Sakura began to climb to her feet so she could lunge and attack, but before she could attempt to get up, the ninja aimed another chakra filled punch at her right side where she was still temporarily blinded. Due to the inability to see from the side the punch was coming from, she was unable to react accordingly, and was hit with the impact, sending her back further into the ground. Burning filled her face as her cheek swelled over her eye completely.

Panting hard and trying to find the strength to act fast, she quickly formed chakra at her palms and attempted to heal the swelling so she could regain her vision and fight him. But as she placed her hand on her cheek, the cloud ninja jumped down into the ground, landing on top of her and grabbing her wrist. Without a chance to think of a counter attack, the ninja bent her wrist back, sending a cracking noise into the air and a painful sensation to jolt through Sakura's body. Sakura knew without even looking what had happened as a scream she could not suppress filled the air.

He had undoubtedly broken her wrist.

Her immediate thought was to use her other hand to heal her face, but began to panic when she realized that the ninja was now sitting on her chest and pinning her other hand to the ground with his knee.

She looked up at the ninja smiling down at her, "I've been waiting four days to get you alone. See, I've been tracking you guys…keeping my distance…and I knew there would be a moment when you would be alone and I could ambush you. I just had to be patient. Of course, I'm not going to kill you, since the bounty offers more money if you're brought back alive…but, they never said anything about bringing you back unscathed." The ninja let out a maniacal laughter as he lifted his elbow up with a clenched fist. Sakura struggled under him, trying to reach for anything, that she could use to get him off of her.

But she found nothing.

She still could not see out of her right eye, and he was aiming to punch her this time on the left side of her face, which would result in temporarily blinding her other eye. In that case, being completely blind and succumbed to darkness, she would undoubtedly lose.

She was going to be taken back to the village.

"Gotta make sure you don't give me any trouble on the way back to the village," the ninja snickered as he emitted blue chakra into his fist. There were so much chakra being packed into his next attack that it was visible.

_He is absolutely stupid, _Sakura thought under his weight and the pain that surfed through her body, _He will undoubtedly kill me with that._

She couldn't move. She felt blood oozing from the back of her head from where she had hit the ground, it began matting her hair.

She couldn't fight back with a blind eye and a broken wrist. She didn't have the strength to get him off of her. She closed her other eye and waited for him to strike.

But rather than being knocked out cold with a chakra fused punch that would surely kill her, she felt the pressure of the ninja on her chest being lifted off, granting her full capability of moving again. The cry of the ninja who was just on top of her pierced the air as she opened her left eye to see what had happened.

Kisame was standing over her, holding the ninja by his neck, his feet dangling below him. Kisame was much taller than he was.

"Hey now, an ambush is an unfair advantage, don't you think?" Kisame growled at the ninja who was dangling by his throat.

"Kisame!" Sakura breathed as she felt her heart begin to beat hard in her throat. She had never imagined she would be so happy to see the sharked nin in her life.

Without a word, Kisame aimed his free hand back and landed a blow across the ninja's face, sending him a few feet away from them, into the base of a tree trunk. The impact immediately sent the tree cowering over.

Before Sakura could react to anything, Kisame reached down and jerked her up, throwing her over his shoulder and jumping out of the hard grounded rubble, into the nearest tree top.

"Itachi, I'll get her away from here. You take care of that brat," Kisame's voice was uneven, but not in a exaggerated way. It was uneven as if he were…thrilled.

Sakura peered her unscathed eye down to the forest floor, where she saw Itachi looking up at them. His expression was as calm and collected as it always was, and he simply gave Kisame a nod, staring at Sakura's face as he did so.

Sakura felt ashamed. He was pitying her again. She could not even protect herself from one foreign ninja. She felt like…a child. A child who needed to be taken care of.

Kisame shifted her into his arms and without another word or hesitation, they took off away from Itachi and the bounty hunter.

* * *

**A/N: Again, sorry for the later updates! I will continue to update when i can. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

Kisame threw another medium sized log into the fire between he and Sakura, adding fuel for the flames to linger higher into the night sky. Sakura sat with her knees up to her chest, her right palm placed on her cheek as green chakra was fixated on healing her heavily bruised face. Her eyesight in her eye had come back a little while ago, and she had just healed her broken wrist back to the state where she could use it again. Now she was healing her bruised face, growing impatient because it was a very slow going process. She was weak from hunger and her chakra was drained from not having enough rest.

However, aside from the obvious physical pains, she was growing more concerned because Itachi still had not caught up with them. And her run in with the foreign ninja had been hours ago.

After Itachi had not immediately caught up with them, Kisame found a spot to rest so that Sakura could heal herself and they could wait for the Uchiha to catch up. Night soon fell as they rested, and Kisame was growing annoyed that it was taking so long for Sakura to heal herself. To prevent himself from growing too bored, he went out to a nearby river and caught some fish to prepare for dinner; he claimed: "The food pills are getting old, I need some real food." Sakura did not care, as long as she was able to get any kind of sustenance in her growling stomach.

He had just gotten done cleaning, chopping and placing them on the fire when Sakura was able to heal her face back to where it was somewhat normal looking, other than a small bit of swelling and yellowish bruises left behind.

Ignoring the pain in her rumbling stomach as she watched the juices from the fish drop down into the ashy firepit, she opened her mouth and spoke to Kisame for the first time since the attack.

"It's been hours," She breathed wearily, "Where is Itachi?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Kisame bellowed in response, "He's probably toying with the kid. He does that sometimes when he's in a bad mood."

"Can Itachi handle him alone?" Sakura questioned as she noticed the right side of the fire start to dim down a bit. She pushed a log into the fire with her foot.

"That's a stupid question," Kisame sneered back as he turned the fish with a long, ragged stick.

"No it's not!" Sakura growled, her forehead scrunching in frustration. "That ninja was strong-"

"That little twerp? I've seen shits bigger than that kid," Kisame interrupted, "Maybe you're just too weak to be by yourself and suckered your way into the Akatsuki so we could protect you."

Sakura's mouth dropped. So that's what Kisame believed? If he believed that, how many others believed it as well?

She scowled darkly as she whispered, "I am not weak."

Kisame snarled back, his teeth glistening in the dark against the flames of the fire and his beady eyes unreadable, "The bruises and swelling tell otherwise, kid."

Sakura didn't say anything else as she watched Kisame continue to grill the fish. The smell of the food was almost enough to completely drop the topic for her as she felt her mouth start to water. A bit of saliva escaped her lips and trailed down her chin and she quickly wiped it away before Kisame could grimace at her. He did not seem to notice.

"You're really not worried about him?" Sakura wrapped her tired arms around her knees, trying to stop herself from drooling again.

"Aint in my job description to be worried about him," Kisame commented back, "Why are you, anyway? You're really worried about a man who killed his entire clan by himself?"

"I didn't say I was worried about him," Sakura bit back, "But I am concerned, seeing as it has been hours since we last saw him."

"He's fine. And if for some reason he's not, then oh well." Kisame withdrew a piece of fish from the fire and examined it. "I prefer mine to be a little more charred…" He mumbled to himself about the fish.

"That's what you really believe?" Sakura was surprised by how little he cared about his teammate, "You could care less if he is dead? Aren't you his teammate? His comrade?"

"Listen, pink," Kisame glared at her as he stuck the fish back into the dancing flames, "We don't have comrades in this organization. We have the mission. That's it. Nobody sacrifices themselves for anyone else here. All that matters is the mission."

"How can you say that?" Sakura questioned in disbelief, "If we lose any members, that hurts the Akatsuki!"

"We've lost members before!" Kisame growled back, "And we continue on anyway. This is what you signed up for, kid. Don't come into the Akatsuki expecting everyone to welcome you in with warm hugs and all rush to the rescue to save your ass. We aren't your leaf buddies."

Sakura wanted to argue back, she wanted to explain to him exactly why every member in the Akatsuki was important for the overall mission, but rather than arguing about it, she did not reply. She realized that this was the difference between them. Sakura was used to having backup, someone always behind you and someone who would give their life to jump in and save yours. She was taught that the importance of your teammates safety exceeded the overall mission in most cases, only some things excluded this. Kisame was not used to having comrades like that in his life, and the rest of them were the same way. They were completely alone, never trusting anyone, always relying on their own abilities to get them through trials.

Sakura realized that _she _was completely alone now.

As Sakura was lost in her thoughts, Kisame pulled out all this fish and laid them on log next to him. Rather than handing a piece to Sakura, he threw it at her, hitting her in the chest and causing her to snap out of her personal thoughts. The fish fell to the ground and crumbled into a few pieces.

Sakura shot him a glare, which he responded to with a smirk, and reached down to pick up the crumbled fish. She normally would have at least dusted her food off, but she was so hungry, she just began shoving the food into her mouth. It was a bit of a tangy and salty flavor which made her question what kind of fish he had caught, but disregarded it as she shoved the rest into her mouth. At this point, it tasted like a five star meal for her.

"You act like you haven't eaten in days," Kisame scoffed across the fire.

Sakura was about to respond to his smart comment, when she was silenced by the rustling of bushes behind her. She quickly swallowed her last mouth full of food and began reaching for her kunai in her pouch, when Kisame stopped her with his words.

"Don't bother," Kisame muttered through a full mouth, looking completely disinterested. "I know that chakra presence anywhere."

Sakura opened her mouth to question him, but stopped as soon as she saw Itachi Uchiha emerge out of the thick, dark bushes in front of her. His facial expression was the same as usual: Blank and unphased as he slowly approached the two other Akatsuki members around the fire.

Sakura did not say anything as she calmly watched Itachi approach the fire, his eyes staring into intently as he stood above Kisame.

Sakura quickly noticed that he appeared to be completely unscathed. Then what had taken him so long to return to them?

"Took you long enough," Kisame ventured displeasingly, "What kept ya?" Kisame did not seem concerned at all that Itachi had randomly appeared as if nothing had happened within the last few hours.

Itachi peered at Kisame and Sakura over his cloak collar, "I wanted to be sure there were no others along with him," Itachi's smooth baritone rolled over Sakura as he responded.

Kisame grinned, "You interrogated him?"

Itachi did not reply as he crouched down next to the fire a few feet away from Sakura. The flames reflections danced on his perfect features as he uncharacteristically seemed to succumb to the fire.

Sakura examined him, trying to get any sort of subtle hint of why it took him so long to return. Did he simply lose his way and not know where they had stopped? It seemed almost impossible that something that minor could stumble someone like the Uchiha prodigy, but Itachi was still human. Maybe Kisame was right and he did take his time on the cloud ninja because he was bored? Nothing pieced together or stuck out to her. He looked completely normal. His cloak wasn't even dirty.

"So were there any others?" Kisame brought Sakura out of her thoughts, it still caught her in disbelief that Kisame was not concerned about where Itachi had been.

He shook his head, "He was alone."

Kisame smirked, "Stupid kid. Should have at least had a backup plan. Oh well, his mistake, not ours." Kisame was about to say something else, but stopped when he noticed that the fire was beginning to get low. "I assume you played with that kid long enough to where you don't have any chakra to spare? No fire jutsu's to light the fire?"

Itachi shook his head again without saying a word.

"I suppose I'm gone to get more firewood, then," Kisame sighed as he stood tall over the fire, turning his back to them.

"We're not continuing on tonight?" Sakura questioned curiously.

"No, you need to rest." Itachi answered for the shark nin, which caught her slightly off guard. He did not look at her as he spoke quietly.

"I told you guys that I'm fine." She objected.

"You're fine because _we_ came," Kisame intervened, "A second later and you would have been food for the vultures. This isn't just about you, kid. Itachi used up chakra fighting _your_ battle, so we're resting for a few hours."

"It will delay our arrival time back to the compound, but our chakra is needed if we should run into anyone else on the way back," Itachi continued off of Kisame's statement.

"I though you said he was alone?" Sakura repeated what Itachi had just said a few moments ago.

"He was, but we can never be too cautious." Itachi replied blandly.

"You got any injuries?" Kisame asked as he seemed to examine Itachi for the first time.

"No," Itachi stated blankly.

"Good, then maybe we won't have to stay here the whole night. That is, of course, unless the princess feels differently." Kisame raised a brow to Sakura and smirked.

She fought the urge to flip him off as she looked away from him, ashamed that she was now considered nothing more than weak. A reputation she did not want to have with the rest of the Akatsuki members.

Without another word, Kisame took off into the forest that was lit with only the moonlight. He soon completely disappeared, leaving Itachi and Sakura completely alone around the fire.

Sakura awkwardly glanced at Itachi, who seemed to still be in a trance while staring into the fire. Although she did not like Itachi and did not want to talk to him anymore than what was necessary, she could not handle the awkward silence that lingered in the air with only the crickets chirping in the background.

"Why did you guys save me?" She blurted out. She had almost regretted it as soon as the question fell out, but rather than trying to make excuses, she just stared at the Uchiha to see how he would react. She was truly curious. If what Kisame had said was true, they did not normally risk their lives for one another, then why had they saved her? Why not just continue on and let her die?

"It would not have went over well with Pain if we lost our only medic on her first mission," Itachi deadpanned, his eyes still focused on the firepit.

She swallowed. _Her first mission_. That made her stomach turn.

"You're going to tell Pain about this, aren't you?"

Itachi did not respond or look at her.

"What will he do if he finds out I almost died like that?" Sakura continued even through his silence. "How does Pain deal with things like this?"

Itachi's eyes shifted so that he could see her from their corners, yet he would not have to completely turn his face. "He doesn't deal with situations like this. He has never had to in the past, the rest of us are more than capable of taking on a single shinobi."

Sakura gritted her teeth. He was again saying that she was weak, yet in a much more forward way. "I'm not weak. I was caught my surprise, I didn't know he was tailing me. If I would have known, it would not have gone down the way it did."

"Hn," Itachi breathed at her as his eyes shifted back to the fire. It was an indication that he did not want, or care, to proceed further with the conversation.

But Sakura ignored it and continued to press, "If he finds out…you think he will kick me out?"

Itachi smirked, which surprised Sakura, because she had never seen him before with any expression other than unemotional. "He does not dismiss people from the Akatsuki. He kills them."

His words stung Sakura like poison and she was not prepared to hear them. They were so calm, so relaxed, that they made the point that much more terrifying as Sakura digested the statement. She swallowed hard. Of course he kills them. Why would she think that she would be dismissed from something like the Akatsuki? She already knew where their compound was along with too much information about each of them. There was no way that Sakura would leave the Akatsuki with that information alive.

She tried hard to control the shaking in her voice, but failed when she uttered quietly, "Please don't tell him."

"Hn," Itachi replied stiffly, not at all concerned with the terror that suddenly filled her voice.

"Please, it was a mistake," Sakura fought back tears. "I'm stronger than that. I was taken by surprise. I can prove myself-"

"I am obligated to report every detail to Pain about the mission," Itachi interrupted her before she could finish her statement.

Sakura was about to fight back with another plead for her behalf, but was rather caught off guard when she saw a single strand of blood travel down Itachi Uchiha's cheek. It glowered against the flames of the firepit.

"Itachi…" She pointed to the bloody tear as it traveled down his pale cheek, "You're bleeding…"

Itachi finally turned to look at her, obviously caught off guard by her comment. He reached up with his left hand and wiped the blood away, pulling back his hand and examining it, wondering how he had not noticed it before she did.

He was about to tell her to disregard it, but refrained himself as he felt a few more blood tears begin to race down his cheek as well. He quickly wiped them away, but could not help but notice the concern that was plastered on Sakura's face.

"Let me see it," Sakura stated as she began to inch closer to him

He shook his head and lifted his hand as if to keep her at a distance. "It is of no concern. My eyes bleed frequently."

"Frequently?" Sakura repeated, scrunching her eyebrows, "Your eyes should not be bleeding like that, much less frequently. Let me see,"

"It is of no concern," Itachi repeated in a firmer tone as he used the sleeve of his cloak to wipe away the rest of the blood that began to surface on the bottom of his lid.

To a normal person, Itachi's firm tone would have immediately sent them away. But Sakura was not intimidated, or afraid. Rather, she completely ignored him and pushed his arm away, surprising Itachi by the quick and sudden physical reaction. She reached into her pouch as she crawled closer to him, retrieving a small black flashlight. She quickly clicked it on and approached him close enough to where she was only a few inches away from him; Closer than Itachi was used to.

"Be still and cooperate," She ordered as she began flashing the light into his eyes. His pupils immediately began getting smaller as the sudden light hit them.

"I do not need to-"

"Shut up, and let me see," Sakura interrupted angrily as she ignored his objections. "I'm the medic, this is exactly why I'm here. Stop fighting me."

Itachi sighed as he realized that Sakura was too stubborn for him to win this particular battle with her. He was not in the mood to fight with her, so he just did as told and sat still as she continued to shine the flashlight and examine his eyes. She inched closer, once again catching Itachi off guard by the closeness, and he could feel her still breathing against him as she continued to observe.

Once she was done with observing with the flashlight, she set it down onto the ground beside them and reached back into her pouch to retrieve a small white rag.

"Hold this on your left eye to soak up the blood while I examine the right one," She ordered as she shoved the rag into his open palm.

He did as instructed, and pressed the rag against his eye. Sakura emitted green chakra to the palm of her hand and slightly touched Itachi's right eye, causing him to flinch uncharacteristically under her sudden touch. His forehead was a bit warm under her fingers and his eyelashes graced her palm as she closed her eyes to focus on the internal organs behind his eyes. Itachi never grew embarrassed or nervous of anything, but even he had to admit to himself that the closeness of a woman like this had made him feel a bit out of his comfort zone.

After a brief moment, Sakura removed her hand and sat back, her expression was almost unreadable when Itachi opened his eye to look at her.

"What is it?" He questioned, curious of what her reaction meant.

"I've never seen anything like this," Her tone was in surprise as she slowly shook her head, "I have never seen optical nerves this damaged in my medical experience. Frankly, I am shocked you are not completely blind!"

Itachi did not reply for a moment, but then gave a subtle nod as he withdrew the white rag from his other eye. "I understand." he said simply.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "You don't seem surprised," she quickly observed. "Did you know your eyes were this bad?"

He shook his head, "I did not know the extent of the damage, but I suspected there were extensive damage behind them."

"Have you had any side effects? Headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, temporary blindness?" Sakura asked as she slowly placed her hand back on his eye to examine it once more. "Your optical nerves are completely shot, I'm surprised you're even seeing at all. Have you been temporary blind before?"

Itachi hesitated at the question, and rather than replying verbally, he gave her a very subtle nod.

"When?"

Itachi commented flatly, "Today was one of the occurrences."

Sakura's foreheard scrunched, "What do you mean?" She removed her hand and picked up her flashlight again, shining it into Itachi's other eye this time.

Itachi did not reply.

Sakura narrowed her eyes as she finally put two and two together.

"Is that what took you so long to get back to us?" She pressed. "You used the sharingan on that ninja, and you lost your eyesight for a few hours? You couldn't find us because you lost your vision?"

Itachi did not respond again. Sakura knew that was what had happened, even without Itachi confirming it. It was hard for her to imagine someone as strong as Itachi being handicapped and stumbling in the darkness because he could not physically see.

Sakura sighed in annoyance, "Look, I don't care about ruining your reputation of never being weak. I'm asking from a medical standpoint. I need to know." Apparently stubbornness was just a common trait within the Uchiha clan.

After a moment of awkward hesitation, Itachi simply nodded once.

"You said that today was one of the occurrences. You've suffered from temporary blindness before?" Sakura peered into Itachi's left eye with her flashlight, studying the dilation of his pupils. "And don't lie." She added.

"Yes," He replied in monotone, "There have been two other occurrences."

Sakura switched to his other eye with the flashlight, "Are you sure there's been just two?"

"Yes."

Sakura clicked her flashlight off and used the cloth in Itachi's hand to wipe away a small teardrop of blood that began to surface from his bottom lid. "I'm surprised you're not permanently blind, Itachi. I've never seen anyone's eyes this bad. Your nerves are pinched to hell and hanging by a thread. Its almost like your rods and cones are nonexistent. If someone had fixed this years ago, they probably wouldn't be this bad."

"Can you fix them?" Itachi asked as Sakura removed the blood stained rag.

Sakura sighed deeply as she clicked her flashlight on again to further examine his condition. She pondered to herself what she would be able to do for him.

"Not one hundred percent, no. Their far too damaged for that," She finally replied as she clicked her flashlight off again. "The only way you would have zero complications with your vision is if you had a transplant. I've never done one alone though, Tsunade has always been beside me while i've done any kind of transplant, let alone an eye surgery. But with further studying and practice on animal corpses, I'm confident I could do one successfully."

"That is out of the question," Itachi shot down the idea as quickly as Sakura had presented it to him.

Sakura refrained the urge to roll her eyes and tried to remain professional, "You should consider all possibilities at this point. Any other eyes would be better than the ones you've got right now."

"It is not a possibility to be considered if I will lose the sharingan," Itachi retorted back.

"The sharingan is exactly why their like this in the first place!" Sakura roared, all professionalism flying out the window. "Your optical nerves are completely shot because of your extensive genjutsus and fighting techniques. Hell, I've only been around you for a few days and i have already noticed that you use the sharingan way too much. Those damn eyes are hurting you!"

Itachi did not respond to her sudden anger, "That is part of the sharingan curse, it cannot be helped." He unemotionally replied.

"You don't have to use them," Sakura argued.

Itachi let out a subtle grunt, "That is equivalent to stating that a fish can live without water."

"That is not the same thing!"

Itachi's eyes finally shifted to her in a serious manner, "A Uchiha is not a Uchiha without the sharingan, just as a Hyuga is not a Hyuga without the byakugan. Without our keikei-genkai, we are no different than you."

Sakura fought the urge to punch him upside the head, and instead replied quietly with, "Well, keep using it like you are, and you will be no different than me soon. Except for the fact that I will still be able to see and you won't."

Itachi did not say anything as Sakura rose to her feet, utterly annoyed by his stubbornness, but if he did not want her help, then she would not fight him. She could personally care less if the Uchiha went blind for the rest of his miserable life.

Just as she was about to walk away, Itachi suddenly cleared his throat uncharacteristically, and said, "What else can you do?"

Sakura sighed as she turned back to face him, his head was still facing the ground and he barely made eye contact with her. It was odd seeing him in such a way that it were as if he were a child being disciplined.

"I can patch them up every week or two, restoring the worn tissues and nerves, but regenerating something as fragile and worn as your optical organs will take a lot of poking and prodding and it will be painful. It still won't guarantee you won't have some kind of temporary blindness with overuse of the sharingan, but it will lessen the chances."

Itachi nodded once as he finally lifted his head, almost as if he perked up from the news that there was a chance his sharingan could be saved. "We will proceed with that treatment, pain is of no concern."

Sakura snorted sarcastically, "I said that I _could_ do it, not that I would. That kind of precison would take time and chakra. I don't even like you, so why would I waste my precious time and effort helping you?"

He, of course, did not seem at all affected that Sakura had bluntly told him she did not like him. Of course, she did not expect him to either. "Perhaps if I paid you before each treatment?" Itachi proposed.

He clearly wasn't getting the message.

"I could care less about your money," Sakura snapped.

Rather than fighting back with another proposition, Itachi sighed as he inclined his head slightly again. "I see we have reached an impasse, then. Very well, you have your reasons. I will continue on regardless."

"You really think your eyesight will last much longer without some form of treatment?"

"If I cannot receive the treatment needed, it cannot be helped," Itachi informed her as he leaned away from her, finally growing tired of her close contact with him.

Sakura was going to argue something back, but stopped when she heard Kisame emerge from the trees carrying a large load of firewood. He looked at Sakura and Itachi, curious as to why she was so close to him, but did not address it.

Sakura scooted away from Itachi, back to her spot and looked away from him as Kisame began to shovel the logs into the fire, watching the flames begin to get higher once more. She did not speak to him or Kisame for the rest of the night.

* * *

They only rested for a few hours, and once they felt that everyone was able to travel without stopping, they set out and made it back to the compound only three hours later than they originally scheduled. Sakura managed to heal her bruises more on the travels back to where they were barely noticeable. She knew that she would have to deal with Pain once they told him what had happened, but she hoped that she could plead her case if she seemed to not be as beaten up as they claimed her to be.

She would occasionally glance over at Itachi as well, as if to see how he was doing considering she knew the truth about his eyesight now. He did not acknowledge her, but also did not seem to be having any issues with blurred vision or any other type of impair.

When they got back to the compound, they immediately headed to the main meeting room, where they would report to Pain about the mission and give Kakuzu the money that they were sent to retrieve.

However, as soon as they arrived, Pain instructed Sakura to leave until she was called upon to enter. He claimed that he wanted to speak privately with Itachi and Kisame so that they could evaluate her performance on her first mission.

As Sakura awaited outside the meeting room, her stomach was in knots. She felt like she was going to throw up. What would Pain say? What would he do? Would he be forgiving? Or would he simply kill her for wasting their time? What were they saying to him? All the uncertainty was giving her a migraine.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kisame emerged from the meeting room with Itachi close behind him, both of their faces were unreadable. They did not even acknowledge her as they walked by, which made her feel uneasy.

"Come in," A chilling voice called from inside the room, immediately recognizing it as Pain's. "I would like to speak with you alone."

Sakura swallowed hard and took a deep breath before she entered the room. Her feet felt like lead as she dragged them inside, trying to hide her fear and worry from the Akatsuki leader as she approached the table at which he was sitting at. His violet eyes were piercing through her, and she felt her throat tighten as if she were going to vomit. His expression was also unreadable, so Sakura could not get a good idea of what he were about to say to her.

She felt that the tension alone was enough to suffocate her to , she stood as tall as she could manage and tried to control her voice so that it would not shake in front of him, "You wanted to speak with me?"

"Tell me about the mission," Pain replied darkly, "This was your first one. Were there any complications?"

She gulped, "Complications?" She fought with herself. Should she just play dumb or just come out and admit what had happened?

"Yes, complications. Such as, did you get along well with Itachi and Kisame?"

"We worked well together," She lied, wondering if Itachi had also told him about how she slapped him.

He did not press it any further. "Any unexpected altercations?" He said this with seriousness, almost as if he were leading her into a deadly trap that she would undoubtedly not make it out of.

She bit her tongue, and decided she would play it off until he made it clear that he knew.

"No, it went very smoothly." She replied.

Pain stared at her intently, the silence was deafening. She was waiting for him to catch her in a lie. Shit, why did she lie to him? Any shred of mercy he might have shed on her was ruined. He really was going to kill her, not because of the mission, but because she lied to him!

She averted her eyes and waited for his response. After a tension filled moment of Pain studying her, he simply nodded and looked down at his hands.

"Very well, you are dismissed."

Sakura's eyes brightened and her head shot up. That was it? "I'm sorry?" She asked.

"You are dismissed, that is all." Pain repeated, "Itachi and Kisame reported that you did very well on your first mission and there were no complications. In that case, there is nothing further. Please return to your room for rest and you will be summoned when there is anything else that is needed from you."

Sakura felt like her heart was going to explode. She made it? They hadn't ratted her out?

Before she could make herself seem too suspicious, she simply bowed in respect to Pain, and turned around and practically ran out of the meeting room. She let out a huge breath that she did not know she was holding and caught herself smiling from relief.

She was thrilled they had shown her mercy. But something else quickly bothered her…why had they done it?

She stood up straight, knowing that should would not be able to find peace with it until she knew exactly what their reasonings were for sparing her the wrath of their leader. She power walked away from the meeting hall, and up to the training grounds in the middle of the compound with each members room on the outside hallways.

She hurriedly approached Kisames door that was not too far from her own and knocked, until she heard a muffled reply from inside that indicated that Kisame granted her permission to come in.

She opened the door, first noticing that Kisame was sitting cross legged on the tatami mats, with a kunai in one hand and an old rag with holes in it in the other hand. A glass of water was sitting next to his right knee and he was busy poking around in Samehada with his kunai, retrieving any kinds of left over particles from his shark skinned sword. He did not look up at her when she poked her head in.

He instead said in a very impatient tone, "What do you want?"

Sakura jumped straight to the point, knowing that he would quickly grow impatient with her if she took too long to speak what was on her mind.

"You didn't tell Pain about the cloud ninja?" Sakura questioned quickly, the words almost too jumbled to comprehend, as she stepped completely into Kisame's room and sliding the paper thin door firmly behind her.

Kisame did not look at her as he continued cleaning Samehada and made a 'tch' sound with his teeth. "Don't look at me about it. I wanted to tell him and watch him send you packing, but Itachi wouldn't have it."

Sakura had not expected his response to be so forward, but was more caught off guard of the statement he had just said. "I…Itachi objected? It wasn't you?"

Kisame glared at her with his small eyes as he glanced up from the sharp skinned sword, "Hell no, it wasn't me. I don't have time to babysit some kid who doesn't even know how to hold her own against some asshole. I don't believe in excuses, either you can carry your weight or you can't." He gazed back down to his sword and turned his back slightly to her, his voice was rigid when he responded with, "You're not going to get the rest of us killed. Next time, there won't be anyone there to save you. We don't have time for waste of space ninjas like you."

Kisame's words undoubtedly cut Sakura to the core of her being. She was deadweight. Weak. Just as she had always been. It didn't matter that she had come all this way to get stronger, she was just the same as she had always been. Useless.

She knot in her throat began to tighten and she knew that she only felt that way when she was about to cry. She quickly swallowed hard to disallow herself to shed a tear. She would not, no, _could_ not cry in front of Kisame. It would just further prove that he was right about her. Strong people do not cry. Akatsuki members do not cry.

She breathed in hard and shook off her emotions. There was something more pressing that began to bother her immediately after she felt the tears behind her eyes vanish.

"Why did Itachi object?" She deadpanned, thankful that her voice did not crack or show any indication of hurt emotions.

Kisame scoffed, "Hell if I know. For some reason he wanted to sweep it under the rug; Don't ask me why. Not exactly in his characteristics to protect someone, but that guy is a damn mystery. I never know what he's thinking." He looked up from Samehada and turned his scowling expression towards Sakura, "Now, beat it. I've got things to do. Get out of my sight before I ignore everything Itachi said and turn you in anyway."

Sakura did not respond to his threat as he looked back at his shark blade and reached over to grab a roll of wraps to cover his sword in. Sakura turned around and exited Kisame's room, slamming the door shut once she was outside. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath to do away with any hurt emotions that lingered from Kisame's statement. If she let herself cry in the prescence of the other members, she would not last. They would exploit her weaknesses. No one other than Itachi and Kisame knew the truth about the incident with the ninja, and from what Kisame had just told her, they would keep quiet about it. Sakura could not allow herself to slip up again.

When she opened her eyes, she felt a prescense of chakra slowly approaching her from behind. She quickly turned around and was greeted with Deidara, who was only a few feet away from her.

She began to panic. Had he heard what Kisame and her just spoke about?

"What are you doing?" Sakura blurted out harshly without thinking.

Deidara raised a brow at her, unphased by the question. "Walking," He answered stiffly. "You know, it's a common thing for human beings to be doing, un."

"How long have you been standing there?" Sakura's eyes narrowed as the words came out in a quick jumble.

"Chill out, I just got here," Deidara answered with a grimace like expression. "Jeez, jumpy much? What the hell is up with you?"

It was clear by his confused expression that he wasn't lying about anything and that he had truly just gotten there. Sakura decided to stop grilling him before he really began to suspect she was hiding something.

She shook her head, "Nothing's wrong with me. I guess I'm just tired from the mission." She quickly lied.

"That measly little mission tired you out?" Deidara grinned in amusement, "You'd better step up your game, then. Ninety percent of our missions are way longer than something stupid like a fund retrieval,un."

"Yeah, whatever," Sakura disregarded his comment, she wasn't in the mood to play along with his taunting. "Have you seen Itachi?"

Deidara shrugged, "I saw him about forty five minutes ago. Don't know where he was heading, but he was going towards the onsens."

"Onsens?" Sakura was not familiar with the onsens. She had been shown the bathhouses in the compound, but did not see any outside onsens.

"Outside onsens are about five minutes west of the compound," Deidara replied blandly, "Hard to miss if you just walk straight. Why are you looking for him anyway?"

Sakura tensed, "Why are you interested?"

Deidara rolled his eyes, "I'm not. I don't care what the hell you do."

"Good," Sakura responded as she scrunched her forehead and waltzed past the blond without giving him another thought. She heard him huff at her as she walked by, but she ignored it and headed to the nearest door that would grant her access to the outside.

Just as Deidara instructed her, she headed west in a power walk. She walked through the open forest that surrounded the compound, once again in complete amazement that such a structure existed in a large and well hidden place. One would have to search for days in the endless forest to even have a remote chance of finding such a place. Sakura could not help but wonder what other strange, hidden places that they would reveal her to in the future.

After traveling for several minutes, Sakura finally approached a heavily stoned area. The ground was littered with stones, both big and small, and the air began to get thicker. It was, without a doubt, the air that belonged to the onsens. Natural hot springs were such an amazing experience because they each had their own characteristics and nothing was manmade. It was clear that the compound had been purposely built here because the onsens were so close by and they would be perfect for soaking after long missions.

As the air thickened, Sakura walked forward and heard her feet began to patter in small puddles below her. She continued forward, inhaling the calming steams that belonged to the hot spring, and came across a large boulder that blocked the rest of her path. She immediately recognized a large wad of black clothing that rested on an adjacent stone, and realized that it was the Akatsuki cloak; Sandals rested neatly below it.

She felt her face begin to flush at the sight. It had not registered to her, for an unknown reason, that if Itachi had gone to to Onsen, that he would be in it at the moment. And he would be completely naked.

She assumed from the acceleration of the steam coming from behind the large boulder that the hot spring was behind it. Not wanting to accidentally see Itachi bare, she decided that she would creep away back to the compound and simply wait for him to return to speak to him.

However, she was careless in her stepping, and slipped on a rock filled with moss, which sent her flying back on her bottom and an involuntary scream to escape her lips.

"Sakura?" Itachi's voice spoke from behind the boulder and through the misty air.

Sakura clamped her hand over her mouth, although she wasn't sure why, he had already heard her scream and knew she was there.

"Sakura?" He repeated, she heard the water behind the large rock ripple and crash against each other.

She breathed in, "Itachi?"

He did not reply for a few moments. As Sakura began to climb back up to her feet, her back turned towards the Onsen, she heard Itachi rustle behind her until his chakra presence was only a few feet away from her.

Itachi jumped down over the boulder and stood behind Sakura. She refused to turn around to see him, afraid that he was standing completely naked behind her.

She inhaled again, "Itachi, do you have a towel?"

"I do not need one, I am clothed enough for decency," Itachi's baritone echoed in the steam filled air.

Sakura took a deep breath as she began to turn around, trusting that Itachi's definition of decency was the same as hers. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw that Itachi was not even remotely close to being bare. He stood with a black tshirt on and a pair of violet pants that he usually wore, and his hair was still tied back in its ponytail. The only thing that was bare were his feet. In fact, he did not seem to even be wet at all from the hot spring.

Sakura sighed a sigh of relief. "I was looking for you, but for some reason it didn't register that you came to the onsen to, um, soak, so I can wait until you are done to talk to you."

"Is there something of concern?" His voice questioned.

"No, er, I mean, kind of, but its not too important. I'll just head back-"

"What did you need?" Itachi persisted further, ignoring her comments to speak to him later. "I was simply relaxing with the calmness of the hot spring air. I did not come to soak today. On the contrary, I was just about to head back." He continued as he reached down to grab his cloak.

Sakura thought it was strange that he came to hot spring to sit, rather than soak. "You don't soak in the onsen?" She asked.

"I do quite often, but when I feel like clearing my sinuses, I come to sit in the air for a while. The steam helps." He exhaled clearly, then his eyes met Sakura's sternly, "But you did not come to ask me about this." He stated firmly.

"You're right," Sakura admitted, "I came to ask you why you didn't tell Pain about the incident with the ninja." She was bluntly forward; She was quickly learning that there was no need to beat around the bush when speaking to Itachi. She rather admired that about speaking with him.

"You asked me not to tell him," Itachi stated as if it were the most obvious fact in the world.

"I doubt that's what convinced you," Sakura's eyes narrowed, "Why didn't you rat me out?"

Itachi let out a subtle sigh and replied, "You claimed that you were beaten because you were ambushed and caught off guard, correct?"

"Yes," Sakura nodded to confirm.

"Prove that your theory is true," He responded almost in a whisper, "Prove that you are stronger than you have allowed yourself to seem."

Sakura waited for him to continue on with anything else, but when he did not after a few quiet moments, she raised a brow and said, "That's it? That's the reason?"

Itachi gave her a nod and turned away from her, beginning to pick up his cloak off of the boulder next to him.

"Did you do it in hopes that I would change my mind about treating you?" Sakura accused without thinking. Surely he had? He had to have an alternate motive.

He shook his head without looking at her, "No, I did not do it with any other secret motive. You claim that you possess powers that are a necessity for the Akatsuki to have. I want to see them. That is all."

Sakura did not know quite how to respond, so she just replied with, "You believe me when I say that I have the power I claim to have?"

Itachi simply looked over his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers once more as he quietly responded with, "I believe everyone has the power they believe they possess, if tapped into their true being."

His words touched Sakura. He was, in a very odd way, telling her that he believed in her strength. He believed she had the power to make it. He did not believe she was as weak as she appeared to be thus far.

She felt a grin begin to curl at her lips. For the first time since she had met him, she did not feel like shoving her fist down his throat.

Then, as Itachi began slipping his shoes on, Sakura suddenly replied with, "I will give you one treatment," Itachi once again turned to look at her, to confirm that she had really said what he thought she said. "Its pay back for not squealing on me."

Itachi, rather than reacting with any sort of excitement, simply nodded his head and turned back to continue putting his sandals on.

Sakura huffed, "What? No thank you?"

Itachi smirked at her taunting, although she could not see it with his back turned to her.

"Thank you," He replied clearly as Sakura turned to walk away from the Uchiha.

* * *

**A/N: As you noticed, this chapter was a lot longer than my previous chapters! I have been working on and off with this one for a few days and finally was able to pull it together tonight. That being said, please tell me how you are liking the story so far! I am not by any means a professional writer. There are flaws in my work, I know this. But sometimes, I have trouble finding them on my own. Please, if there are any apparent flaws, leave me a review pointing out the things that need worked on(however, please be polite in your critiques. I'm human too (: ) the only way I can truly grow as a writer is if I have wonderful readers like you to give me advice on things that need worked on and positive feedback on the things I am doing right. As always, you are appreciated.**

**Until Next Time,**

**xoxo**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Yes, I'm alive. No, I have not forgotten about the story. No, I am not discontinuing it. Yes, I have been very busy and have been working on it in pieces. Yes, here is your next chapter. And Yes, finally for those who have also been reading **_**The Trouble With Love**_**, I will be updating that one this week as well. As you all are aware of, this story is rated M for a few reasons, including violence. As the story progresses, there is going to be more violent and or gory natured scenes, and as stated in the first chapter, viewer discretion is advised. Please be responsible for what you read, it is not my responsibility. Thank you, and please enjoy.**

* * *

_Sakura bent herself over the ivory toilet bowl, shoving her face down into it as hot, acidic liquid spewed from her lips. Her sore throat burned as she regurgitated violently into the toilet. She gagged as she wrapped her arms around the toilet seat; She was desperate for the vomiting to end and felt like it never would._

_Ino knelt down on one knee to get on Sakura's level. She wrapped her slender arm around Sakura's waist as her other hand pulled back her pink matted hair from her face. Ino's usual blue eyes that held the excitement and happiness of a child, had recently turned a pale gray that would match a cloudy sky. Or perhaps it was the dark circles under her eyes that made them appear that way. She began whispering soothing words into Sakura's ear as she suffered through another wave of vomit._

"_Let it out," Ino's tone had reached a level of exhaustion that she was not accustomed to, "Don't hold back. Get it out of your system."_

_Sakura's eyes were puffy and swollen, but she had not missed the few drops of blood that dripped down her bottom lip and onto the toilet seat. She quickly wiped it away with the flat of her palm, but Ino had already seen it. She sighed and shifted her hand from her waist, to her back and began rubbing small circles with her thin fingers. Four days ago, she had been concerned at the regurgitation of blood, but now she knew that it was just from the rawness of her best friends throat. Sakura had not eaten much in the last forty-eight hours, claiming that she could not stomach anything, and now she was upchucking pure stomach acid. _

"_It…hurts…" Sakura whimpered as she finished spitting. Her body shook violently under Ino and she was already beginning to feel a bit thinner. _

_Ino responded gently with a, "Shh." Then added, "Don't make your throat worse by talking."_

_Sakura wailed loudly as hot tears ran down her red, tear stained face. "It-its my fault!" She cried, ignoring Ino's request to remain silent._

"_Don't, Sakura," The blonds voice was losing its sympathetic edge, but she tried to fake it for her best friends sake. "Tsunade said if you go down that path again, you've got to go back to sleep."_

"_I-I-" Sakura stuttered as her breathing began to quicken, "Naruto…" Her train of though switched quickly to the only other thing she was able to think about._

"_Naruto is in the hosptial, just like he was yesterday," Ino patted her back with as much reassurance as she could muster._

_Sakura sniffled loudly as she turned to Ino, her emerald eyes were a dark shade of red that could possibly even rival the sharingan. "I want-want to see Naruto,"_

_Ino shook her head and firmly, yet gently, responded with, "Naruto is sleeping. He needs his rest."_

"_I won't wake him-"_

"_Tsunade won't let you in like this," Ino interrupted with an edge to her tired voice, "You have got to calm down, or I will have no other choice but to call her."_

_Ino was trying to be sensitive to Sakura's emotional state, she really was trying. But she had repeated the same phrases and the same actions over the last four days and her exhaustion was beginning to affect her emotional health._

_Sakura leaned away from the toilet and fell on her side, curled up into a ball and wailed into her arms, causing her painful expression to be muffled. Ino did not try to pick her up; She did not even touch her. She just stared at her as she bit her lip to prevent her own tears from falling._

_Of course, even if Ino were to take her to see Naruto, she would break down all over again when she realized Naruto didn't even recognize her. Naruto was heavily sedated and under a number of different medications that had reduced him to a little more than a vegetable. And, although Sakura had been declared healthy enough to discharge from the hospital, she was not much better than him in comparison. She was on a very high milligram dosage of antidepressants, a special food pill diet that was prescribed to up her endorphin levels, and a sleep booster that she were to take when she got hysterical beyond help that worked like a tranquilizer. She had already been forced to take the booster twice. Once, when she was in the hospital, and she tried to forcedly take a syringe from a nurse. And the second time, with Ino, when she took one of her kunai and had sliced open her wrists, in hope of bleeding out. Sakura was allowed to be discharged if she were to remain under supervision at all times. Ino willing accepted responsibility, confident in her ability to nurse Sakura back to emotional health._

_But now, as she watched her best friend shake viciously while clawing at her arms, she realized that Sakura may never get better. That Naruto and Sakura may never recover from what they had lost._

* * *

Sakura awoke that morning feeling abnormal. She did not feel sick or tired, but it was far from a normal feeling. She immediately assumed it had to do with her dream. She felt her stomach drop at the recollection, that it had not been just a dream, but a memory. After Tsunade delivered the news that day that changed everything, something inside her had been missing. The only other person who knew exactly what she was referring to was Naruto, and Naruto wasn't here because she left him.

She moaned as she raised out of her bed on the tatami mats in her room. She stretched her arms out and yawned as she felt her muscles flex beneath her skin. She opened her green eyes completely, greeted with a ray of sun that shined through her window. Pain had told them yesterday that in two days, they would be moving out of this compound and going to another one. She sighed at the recollection. She loved the compound she was in now and had just started to get accustomed to her room. But it could not be helped. An organization like the Akatsuki had to always keep on the move. It had been a few days since she had gotten back from her first mission with Itachi and Kisame, and she was often woken up earlier than she had preferred to do small errands for Pain. She had wondered why he hadn't sent her on any more missions, especially since it seemed as if he were sending everyone else on something to do, but he reassured her that she would have plenty of missions soon, and that she should enjoy her free time while she has it.

She had already planned out what she would do today before she fell asleep last night. She was going to get up, eat breakfast, and devote her day to training. After the encounter with the cloud ninja, she could not afford to be overtaken again. She knew she had to hone her skills and use her time wisely to grow stronger and prove to the other members that she was as strong as she told them she was.

She jumped up from her bed and walked over to the corner of the bare room, reaching into her backpack to retrieve her clothes. She could not deny that she missed her closet from home, she did not even have a closet here in the compound, but realized that it was a trivial matter. The Akatsuki only wore their black cloaks afterall, it wasn't necessary for her to possess too much clothing.

Thinking of the red cloaked clouds reminded her that she had recently just gotten her own, yesterday, as a matter of fact, Konan had stopped by her room and personally delivered it.

"_I apologize that it came later than expected, but here is your personal cloak and ring. Please wear the ring on your right index finger."_

_Sakura looked down at the ring as Konan placed it inside her palm._

"_It doesn't have a symbol on it," Sakura observed as she inspected it, "It is blank."_

_Konan nodded, "As you are aware, there are only ten members that are needed for the extraction jutsu. There is no need for an eleventh symbol, however, it is imperative that you possess a ring so that we may communicate with you. Yours is blank so that in the rare event that another member should die, you will take that members symbol and switch to the necessary finger that corresponds."_

_Sakura looked up from her ring to Konan, "So, for example, if Sasori died, I would take his symbol and my ring would go on my thumb."_

_Konan nodded in confirmation._

She pulled her clothes out of her backpack and slipped them on, then pulled out the neatly folded black cloak from her backpack and held it up in front of her. After examining the familiar pattern, she pulled it over her arms and zipped it up in the front as the collar surrounded her head in a thick circle. The cloak was obviously oversized so that it would not cling to her body and she personally enjoyed the freedom that it provided her. Once the cloak was comfortable on, she picked up her blank ring that rested on the window seal and slipped it on her right index finger, just as instructed, also aware that Deidara wore his ring on his index finger. She did not question what the purpose was of having it on that specific finger, she just did as she was instructed. The ring fit snug and perfectly on her thin finger.

Once she was dressed and had slid on her black boots, she left her small room to get herself some breakfast. Pain had made it clear to her that every member was responsible for their own food and sustenance. It made sense that no one would be obligated to feed everyone else, especially since there were those who did not even need to eat, such as Sasori and Hidan. Most of the members just picked up various food items on every mission they went on and brought them back for themselves, but since Sakura had not been on a mission and had not gotten anything on her last mission with Itachi and Kisame, she had no food. She had eaten all the food pills she had, and was left to hunt for anything that may be nutritional for her. She was thankful, however, that Konan had been nice enough to share some of her instant ramen with her. Konan had not admitted anything of the sort, but Sakura had a feeling that Konan might be enjoying having another woman around in a male dominated organization.

As Sakura heated up some water for the instant ramen, she could not shake the sudden image of Naruto as it crept through her mind. Ramen was his favorite food, after all, it was impossible for her to ever eat it without thinking of him. Her mind instantly began to drift about her old friend, but she quickly shifted her thoughts to something else. She could not permit herself to think of him now, especially since he could be driving himself crazy looking for her even at this very moment.

She shook the thoughts out of her head as she poured the water in her ramen and stirred. She had successfully managed to not think about Naruto or anyone else for a few days now, and she wouldn't start now. She couldn't.

After she had eager eaten up the hot noodles, she let herself rest for fifteen minutes while she gathered her training things together, such as kunai, shuriken, and scrolls. She had yet to see anyone else this morning, so she figured most of them were running errands or training elsewhere. Now was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the empty training grounds in the middle of the compound.

She immediately jumped into her training once she stepped foot on the hard dirt ground, first starting with simple exercises like throwing kunai and shuriken at the target dummies. It was no secret that she had never been an expert at long distance fighting or weapon throwing, but she had increasingly gotten better within the last few years. She was proud that nine times out of ten, she was able to hit the target directly in the middle when she threw her weapon. However, that did not mean she was great at it by any means. An academy student can hit a target in the middle with enough concentration, the real skill is to be able to hit a moving target, which she was not very successful at doing.

That was one skill she always envied Sasuke and Naruto for. Sasuke was phenomenal at hitting moving targets, even at the young age when they first formed team seven. Naruto was not as good as Sasuke, but he was skilled in at least being able to distract the enemy long enough to where he could get close ranged with them. They had always been strong. She may have been incredibly booksmart, even smarter than Sasuke in some cases, but in the end, their power always exceeded hers.

_Sasuke. _Just thinking of his name made her feel the stomach acid in her throat; Taste it on her tongue.

She growled at herself as she shook her head quickly. _Stop thinking about them._ She nagged to herself angrily. Quickly, she jumped a couple feet off of the ground with a kunai in her hand, and thrust it towards the straw dummies chest, aiming for where an opponents heart would be in a real battle.

She landed on the balls of her feet and looked up, frowning once she realized that rather than hitting her desired target, the kunai had bedded itself inside the dummies shoulder.

Rather than sulking about it, she simply sighed and stepped forward to retrieve it to try once more. She had to keep herself busy, her mind was her enemy today.

"You need to bend your elbow in more and aim slightly to the left."

Sakura gasped as a small jolt of adrenaline rushed through her, turning on her heels to the direction the unexpected voice spoke from.

Itachi lurked on the stone steps that stepped down into the training ground. His face was unphased by Sakura's surprise, yet he was seemingly focused on something else.

"Itachi!" Sakura gasped, "How long have you been standing there?"

"I arrived a few moments ago," He replied blandly, "You are easily startled."

Sakura shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows, "No, I'm not, anyone would have jumped if they were surprised by a creeper watching them in the background,"

"I would assume you would feel my chakra presence," Itachi remarked with a glint in his eye.

"I wasn't paying attention, I was focused on something else," Sakura argued back.

"Hm," Itachi's lips twitched subtly and his eyes wondered as if he were thinking, "You were also focused on something else when you were ambushed," He put this in a way that was not a question, "You should always be aware of your surroundings. The moment you are not, is the moment the enemy attacks."

Sakura glared at him as she turned her body slightly to the side, "Not everyone is as paranoid as you are," she retorted with an edge to her voice.

"Paranoid?" Itachi repeated the word as if he had never heard it before, "Perhaps I am. Perhaps not."

Sakura was already growing tired of his presence, "What do you want, Itachi?" she barked without a single hint of patience.

Itachi's onyx eyes shifted slightly at the tone in her voice, but he did not make any indication that he was intimidated or threatened by it, which she expected. "I came to practice my jutsu's. I prefer to use the sharingan jutsu's in the compound just in case there is the off chance I suffer from my condition."

He was clearly talking about his temporary blindness. Sakura was the only other member aware of it, so he was careful to not openly talk about it to where others could hear.

"However, I see that you are currently occupying these grounds. I will train elsewhere for the time being." The eldest Uchiha finished his statement as he slowly turned away from Sakura to leave her back to her training. However, something had peaked Sakura's curiosity enough for her to step forward without thinking twice about it.

"Wait," The word escaped her lips before she could think about it further.

Itachi curiously turned around to meet eyes with the girl, his dark eyes meeting her gaze in one swift glance. He did not speak or question her, he simply stared and waited for her to continue.

Feeling slightly intimidated with the Uchiha's full attention on her, she quickly spoke her question that almost came out in an inaudible jumble, "What did you say before?"

Itachi did not say anything, he just looked at her as if he did not understand what she was referring to.

"About bending my elbow," Sakura clarified while taking another step forward, "You said something about it after I threw the kunai."

Itachi turned around completely to face her and spoke blankly, but also in an oddly gentle way, "You are thrusting your arm outwards, thus losing control of your kunai once you release. It is common for shinobi to do this, and it is not a wrong way to throw a blade, however if you are looking for precision, an outward throw will not hit your target."

Sakura analyzed his words a few times in her head before she spoke again. "Outward throws aren't precise?" She questioned outloud, "Then what purpose do they have?"

"They are for distractions," Itachi answered softly, "Surely you can recall from your own battle experience that many kunai were not used to injure your opponent, but rather distract them to ensure you have the proper amount of time to complete a jutsu,"

Sakura nodded, "Of course. Distractions can make or break the completion of a jutsu."

"Yes, and do you recall how you threw your kunai or shuriken when you were trying to accomplish a suitable distraction?"

Sakura thought about it for a moment, trying hard to remember big battles she had been a part of in the past. The biggest battle that came to mind first and foremost was her battle with the sound ninja while in the forest of death. She remembered trying to protect Naruto and Sasuke from the sound trio, and how that was the momentous day of when she cut her hair even though it was one of the largest things she treasured about herself. She recalled how she had successfully completed several substitution jutsu's in order to get to one of the male ninjas, and also remembered what she had done in order to distract them.

Her eyes shifted in recollection, "I threw it outwards," she responded.

Itachi nodded once in confirmation. "It is natural for us to do this. However, if you are aiming for a specific target, you will need to bend your elbow _inwards_ rather than outwards, while shifting your body slightly to gain the correct position. Do you understand?"

Without another word or question, Sakura reached down to retrieve another kunai from her holster and turned her back to Itachi, facing the dummy once more. She felt Itachi's eyes burning into the back of her head, but she tried to refocus on the dummy and ignored him. Just as Itachi had explained, she shifted her footing to the left and with power behind it, bent her elbow in, then released the kunai in a quick swing of her arm. She felt a grin curl at the corners of her mouth as she watched the kunai soar through the air and strike the dummy. She noticed what a huge difference she had made from her previous attempt. Now, the kunai was sticking out of the dummies sternum.

"Very close," Itachi observed behind her, "Next time, step an inch or so more towards the left and it will hit the heart."

Sakura nodded without looking back at him as she felt her adrenaline begin to pump. She reached down, grabbed another kunai, and repeated her last move, but stepped more so to the left just as instructed. She felt confident it would undoubtedly hit this time, but felt a wave of disappointment surf through her when it landed in the dummies bottom rib cage rather than its heart.

"That was too far to the left," Itachi critiqued once more, "You need to find the perfect middle of step placement. It cannot be too much, nor to little."

Sakura felt herself get frustrated as she once again tried, following his advice to the best of her ability, but found that she had thrown it too high, this time landing in the collarbone region.

"Ugh, too damn high that time," Sakura growled as she once again attempted to correct her previous mistake. In her next try, she placed her footing and body perfectly, but her arm was too low, resulting in another failed rib cage target.

Sakura stamped her foot impatiently, "Dammit! Why can't I find the perfect middle!"

She reached down for yet another kunai, but was stopped when Itachi wrapped his slender fingers around her cloaked elbow. Shocked at the sudden contact, all her fury disappeared when she looked up at the perfectly featured Uchiha. She stared at him, then to the stone stairs, then back to him. She hadn't even heard him move, how had he gotten to her so quickly?

"You are frustrated and impatient. It is impairing your judgment," Itachi stated coldly as his slender fingers unraveled themselves from her elbow. "Calm your emotions and try once more."

Rather than nodding and doing as instructed again, she shook her head and quietly replied with, "Show me."

Itachi's eyes stared into hers in an almost intimidating manner, yet they were also strangely questioning.

"Show me how to do it," Sakura repeated, keeping her gaze steady as she reached down into her kunai holster. She retrieved one and shoved the handle into his relaxed palm next to him, causing Itachi's eyes to shift down as the cold metal met his hand. "I want to see you do it," Sakura whispered, feeling as if she were going to get lost in his deep onyx colored eyes.

At first, is seemed as if he were going to decline her request, but after a brief moment of silence, he stepped away from her while gripping the kunai in his hand. He turned around with his back facing her. Sakura let out a breath that she was not aware she was holding.

Just as quickly as he appeared behind her only a few moments ago, he had turned, placed his feet, and released the blade at an astounding speed and quick movement. Sakura was positive she would have missed it if she had blinked her eyes.

Itachi did not look back to the pink haired kunoichi, but rather met his eyes with the target his blade had dug into. Sakura followed his gaze, and with her mouth hung open, stared at the kunai that was perfectly dug into the dummies chest, where a real person's heart would have been located.

"W-wow…" Sakura's words dropped from her mouth involuntarily. Her eyes did not move from the dummy as Itachi stood up straight as before.

"Keep practicing," Itachi's voice pulled her from her amazement. "That is the only way to become an excellent shinobi."

Sakura's eyes moved from the dummy to Itachi. Her amazement melted away as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He was intimidating, not only from his phenomenal ninja skills, but his appearance. His smooth, chiseled features. In that moment, Itachi looked just like Sasuke and it made her hairs stand straight and her heart hurt.

How could she not think of Sasuke when he was standing right in front of her?

"It seems that I am distracting you," His deep voice pulled her out of her thoughts. Sakura shuttered. He even sounded like Sasuke. He was suffocating her. "I'll leave." he finished.

"No, I will," Sakura clenched her teeth as she bent down to pick up her idle weapons on the ground, "I was just finishing up."

Itachi knew she was lying, but he did not press the matter. Perhaps he had done something that bothered her.

"I do not intend to drive you off," Itachi spoke softly, "You were here before I was."

"No, you need to practice here, because of your, erm, condition," Sakura stuttered as she stood up and shoved her weapons in her bag, "How are they?" She was clearly referring to his eyes.

"They hurt," Itachi responded unemotionally. It would do no good to lie to her.

"I'll take a look at them when you're done with training," Sakura hesitantly replied. She normally would not have volunteered, but remembered that she owed him one treatment for not turning her in to Pain.

"Are you sure?" He asked, catching Sakura off guard.

She gave him a nod as she started to walk past him, "I said I owed you a treatment," She stated flatly, "Come by later. I'll take a look at them."

Sakura was already at the stone stairs, eager to get away from the intimidating Uchiha, and Itachi had no interest in continuing conversation with someone who did not want to speak with him, although he was still slightly confused at her sudden abnormal behavior.

He started to turn around to unpack some of his equipment, but stopped once his hand gripped around his belt. The air had suddenly felt a bit thicker; denser. Sakura took her last step on the stairs when she froze in mid walk. She had felt it suddenly as well.

Almost simultaneously, Sakura and Itachi turned to each other and met eye contact. Itachi's crimson sharingan was already ablaze. Sakura shifted uncomfortably. It took a few seconds to realize that the air had felt like chakra.

"Is that your chakra?" Sakura asked, but felt her heart begin to pick up its pace when Itachi met her with the same questioning stare.

He shook his head. "I assumed it may have been yours," he replied almost in a daze, "but I do not recognize this chakra-"

It all happened very quickly after Itachi's statement had been interrupted.

The ceiling above them crumbled into an explosion of dry wall and dust. Sakura shielded her face as the debris crashed to the ground, and felt her adrenaline rush through her as an unidentified number of shinobi suddenly fell from the crushed compound mess.

It was as if it were a flood, but rather than water, it was sound ninja. Their sound headbands glistened against the light.

Without warning, they jumped into battle. Sakura quickly began defending herself from blows and punches she could not keep track of. Her mind was in a frenzy as she jumped and dodged unidentified attacks, trying desperately to get out of their arms length so she could stop and gather information as to what was happening. It was happening all too quickly, and Sakura did not know what to do other than defend herself.

She heard screams and cries a distance away from her, immediately realizing that Itachi was being attacked as well. The cries were unfamiliar to her and she knew that Itachi was taking care of them without hesitation. As she continued to fight against the outburst of sound ninja, she realized that she was in the advantage, because although there were a lot of them, they were not organized or strong. Their attacks were careless and sloppy; She was faster. She was able to use her chakra based strength to stop many of them in their tracks before they could even touch her.

Although they were not strong, there were still more of them than her. It was absurd, it was as if they would never stop coming! She had to get to Itachi. They had to team up to defeat them, then look for the others.

_The others_, Sakura thought, _where are they?_

Finally after what seemed like never ending dodging and attacking, Sakura was able to find an opening. She immediately looked for the Uchiha, so that she could rush to him and they could engage in combat together. But, although she searched as far as her eyes could see, she could not see Itachi. She could not hear him.

That was when she realized that she had been so busy fighting and defending, that she had separated herself so far from him that she was far from the training area.

She was about to lunge back towards the direction of the field, but stopped when more sound ninja dropped from the broken ceiling. Knowing she would not make it alone against all the ninja if they continued to come in packs, she turned and ran. She had to get outside. Itachi could be outside.

Sakura ran as fast as her legs would carry her, trying to escape out of the compound that was quickly being overrun with sound ninja. She came to a halt before she was at the exit, looking behind her to see if Itachi was anywhere in sight. When she frantically looked around her, there was no evidence of any other Akatsuki members, let alone Itachi Uchiha.

She heard screams of the sound ninja and the walls around her crumbling as jutsu's began to tear the compound apart, indicating that Itachi had not made it outside, and that he was still back there. However, with the increasing number of sound that began to overrun the compound that was quickly becoming ruins, She had no choice but to trust that Itachi could handle himself.

She thrust herself through the exit that lead outside and was greeted with a bloody battlefield. Sound ninja's bodies littered the lush forest that was oddly turning into an eerie forest of death before her eyes. She looked up from the countless bodies to see her fellow Akatsuki members, Kisame and Hidan, back to back a few yards away from her, slashing through anyone who dared approach them with their overly massive weapons. Hidan was shouting with a grin on his face and blood splattered on his body, while Kisame was grunting and swinging Samehada in all directions to prevent them from being overrun.

Sakura was easily spotted by a few sound ninja, who eagerly approached her for battle. She aimed a chakra filled fist at the hard earth below her, causing the ground to break in half and swallow the sound ninjas in one move. However, she was not close to being done, when more sound ninja jumped from the trees around her for an attempted ambush.

She knew she would not be able to fight them all off alone and knew that her best bet was to team up with Kisame and Hidan. Once she fought off the weak sound ninja around her, she jolted with chakra filled speed to stand by Kisame and Hidan.

"Still alive, huh kid?" Kisame smirked as Sakura approached them. He swung his sword in a quick sweep to get two sound ninja that stood between them out of the way. Sakura jumped in between Hidan and Kisame.

"Where are the others?" Sakura called out over the grunts and screams as more sound ninja appeared from the forest trees.

Hidan laughed maniacally as he grabbed a ninja by his throat and snapped his neck with a single movement. The crack of the ninjas neck echoed in Sakura's ears as Hidan carelessly threw the ninja aside like a rag doll.

"Scattered," Hidan laughed as he answered, "There are sound ninja everywhere. Kabuto sent us an army!" He licked his lips as he swung his scythe, chopping a kunoichi's head off in the blink of an eye. Her head rolled towards Sakura's feet like a bloody basketball, her eyes looking up at Sakura as they rolled back into her skull and twitched.

Sakura felt her stomach roll and quickly looked away before she could become nauseous at the gory sight.

"Their not strong," Sakura gasped out as she kicked a shinobi in the stomach, sending them flying a few feet away from them. "There's just so any of them!"

Hidan smirked and turned his head to meet her gaze, his red eyes holding excitement as thick blood trickled down his chin. "Oh, don't tell me you're getting tired already-"

"Hidan, look out!" Sakura interrupted in a scream. A ninja who was abnormally larger than the rest of the other ones, jumped down in front of Hidan while he had been looking at her. Sakura screamed as the massive, masked ninja stood above Hidan and grabbed him by his neck, lifting him effortlessly off of the ground. Hidan attempted to swing at the shinobi's colossal arm with his scythe, aiming for his forearm so that he could be released from his hold.

However, his attempt failed. And rather than the abnormally sized ninja letting him go, he took hold of Hidan's head with his other unoccupied hand, and ripped Hidan's head clean off his body as if he were simply a doll.

Sakura screamed at the sight of the ninja throwing Hidan's head into the dirt. Blood began pouring from Hidan's headless body, squirting and spraying all over Sakura and the ninja before her. Sakura shook off her shock as she quickly tried to gather herself to her feet, but stopped when she saw the enormous ninja's eyes shift past Hidan's body onto her.

Just as the shinobi was aiming a chakra filled fist at her, she felt Kisame grab onto her cloak collar above her and pick her up off of the ground effortlessly. He swung her out of the way as if she were a pile of trash, released her, and sent her sliding into the hard ground a yard away from himself and the ninja. His timing had been perfect, because the shinobi's fist was lodged into the hard ground where she had just been a second ago.

She gasped as she crawled up to her knees, pulling back her sleeves to reveal raw and bloody forearms from where they had slid against the rough earth. She looked up to see Kisame countering the huge shinobi's katana with Samehada. Kisame was a very tall man, but this ninja surpassed him by both height and weight significantly.

Her first instinct was to jump in and help Kisame as she brought herself to her feet, ignoring the burning on her raw arms and blood trailing down her wrists and hands. Kisame saw this out of the corner of his eye and jumped back from the ninja.

He turned his head towards her and showing all his rows of razor sharp teeth, yelled at her, "This one is past your league, kid! Get out of the way and go find the others!"

"But-" Sakura called back in objection, eyeing Hidan's bloody head that lay face down in the dirt.

"He can't die, forget him!" Kisame barked back as he braced himself for the other ninja's lunge in his direction, "You aren't gonna last by yourself, kid! Get going!"

Sakura watched helplessly as the sharked nin fought off the oversized shinobi, feeling her cloak become heavy as it soaked itself with hot and sticky blood from her arms. She knew in her condition she would become more of a burden to Kisame than a help, which explained why he threw her out of his way. However, in the midst of battle, she couldn't afford to heal herself here. There were too many sound ninja.

Just as she was about to take the risk to jump in and help Kisame anyway, she heard a loud gust of wind along with the beating of heavy wings above her head. She turned slightly and looked up to see a enormous white bird flying down to her, its wings flapping loudly and sending dirt and dust circling in the air. The bird got low to the ground, but it did not land. Its face was hollow and blank and its beak was long and hooked. It smelt like ceramic.

Just as Sakura was about to pull a kunai out on the unidentified creature, she saw Deidara crawl over its head from its back, his blond hair flying in all directions from the strong force of wind from the birds wings. The bit of hair that always rested on half of his face had been blown to the side, revealing a metal, robot like piece of equipment that rested where his other eye should have been. Sakura had never been close enough to him to ever notice it before.

Deidara grunted as he nodded his head for her to jump on the creature, "Jump on, un, before the sound ninja get to it!"

Sakura was not sure what exact powers that Deidara possessed, but had known it was something to do with explosions. It was apparent that he had created this creature he was on top of, and that she had every reason to trust his request.

She quickly turned around before jumping on, pushing the pink forest of hair out of her eyes as it blew crazily around her face, and called out for Kisame.

"Kisame!" She called as she tucked more flying hair back, "Kisame, hurry! Come with us-"

Her calling halted once she had gotten clear view of Kisame and the abnormal sound ninja a yard away from her. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened as she could not believe the sight before her eyes.

Samehada was in the dirt beside Kisame, its bandages torn off and scattered, revealing the blue sharked skin interior beneath them. Kisame was knelt down next to it on his knees, with an unidentifiable expression plastered on his blue skinned features. The sound ninja stood above him with his enormous hand on his katana handle, while the blade had itself pierced through Kisame's chest. The end of the blade had gone clean through Kisame's body and its bloody blade was dripping onto the ground as the light began to leave Kisame's eyes.

Sakura covered her mouth with both hands to keep from screaming at the violent death before her, but was quickly brought back to the urgency of the situation when Deidara screamed behind her.

"Get on, dammit, or I'm leaving you, un!"

Having no other choice but to shake off what she had just witnessed, she turned on her heels and lunged onto the giant bird's wing. She grasped at the smooth surface, trying to grab onto something to pull her up, and began slipping when Deidara leaned over and took hold of her arm.

He roughly pulled her up on the bird as it immediately took off into the air. Sakura felt her stomach drop as the elevation level quickly shifted and before she was even aware of it, they were up in the gray colored sky, above the lush treetops of the forest.

Sakura panted hard as she tried to regain her breath, looking up at Deidara who was standing above her. She did not dare stand along side him, afraid that she would lose her step and fall on the smooth surface. She sat up with her back against the birds neck.

"Was anyone else with you?" Deidara looked down to her and asked as his hair blew mystically in the wind. His expression was determined and looked angry.

"Kisame," Sakura panted, "That ninja…killed…"

"Hey!" Deidara slapped Sakura's shoulder with his hand, alerting her with his sudden contact. "Was anyone else with you or not, un?" He demanded unsympathetically. It was as if he had not just witnessed his former teammate die.

Sakura shook her head, "N-no…just Hidan." She closed her eyes as she tried to shake off the violent death in her mind, "That ninja ripped…his head off…"

Deidara growled as he looked up from her and forward. "Hidan can't die, so if we find his head later, we can easily reattach it." He said this more to himself than to Sakura. "What about Pain? Or Konan? Kakuzu? Anybody else?"

Sakura shook her head again as she finally felt her heart begin to slow down a bit, "I only ran into Hidan and Kisame…I was with Itachi earlier, but we got separated. I don't know where he or anyone else is."

Deidara growled again as he slammed his fist down on the large flying creature, "Dammit. Their smarter than we gave them credit for."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked as she began pulling back her blood soaked sleeves. While they were up in the air away from the enemies was the best time for her to heal her injured arms.

"Sasori and I were together when they attacked, un," Deidara responded as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye, "They were throwing really weak jutsu's and moves at us. We just thought they were ridiculously weak, but it turns out they were tricking us. The more we fought them individually, the more Sasori and I got separated. Eventually, I couldn't even see him anymore. I don't know where he went."

Sakura gasped as the green chakra that rested in her palm touched the raw skin on her forearms. Luckily, the wounds weren't too deep, so it would not take long to at least heal them to a state where she could easily use them again. She nodded in agreement once the burning from her medical jutsu began to subside.

"That's what they did…to me and Itachi too."

"Their purposely separating us from each other," Deidara replied with an edge to his tone, "Its easier to take us out when we're not together, un."

"It makes sense…" Sakura trailed off as she examined her skin reforming, "What's our plan of action?" She had to forget the subject of Kisame right now. It would do no good to dwell on it in their current state.

Deidara did not respond for a moment, then he said, "We need to stay together, un, we're no good by ourselves. Not against this many ninja. While we're up here, take the opportunity to heal yourself. Then we'll fly somewhere far away from the compound."

Sakura stared up at him in disbelief, "We'll fly somewhere far away from the compound? What the hell are you saying! You're going to leave your comrades alone back there? They need our help!" It was one thing to not even acknowledge the fact that Kisame had just died bloody in front of their eyes, but now he wanted to abandon everyone else?

Sakura knew from what Kisame had told her before, was that they did not view comrades and teamwork the same way she did. But she would not forgive herself if she were to just run away without even trying to help them.

Deidara flashed her a furious expression in return, "So, what? You just want to go flying around trying to find everyone, un? Theres no telling where they all are! They all could have died bloody like Kisame, for all we know! If we go back into that massacre, we'll die too!"

"You're a coward!" Sakura barked back as her eyebrows furrowed in anger, "We have to go back!"

Deidara opened his mouth as if he were going to angrily shout something back, but was silenced when a kunai flew up from below them, landing beside Sakura on the crevice of the birds wing and barely missing Deidara's shoulder in the flight.

Deidara leaned his head over the side of the birds body and looked below to see where it had come from. "Their throwing kunai at us, now?"

Sakura was about to reply to Deidara's comment, but stopped when she heard the faint sound of paper burning next to her. She immediately recognized the sound and glanced to the side of the kunai.

"Paper bomb-!"

A loud explosion echoed through the sky, followed by a thick cloud of black and gray smoke. Sakura wrapped her arms around her head and held her breath so that she would not breathe in the smoke. She felt her body begin dropping as the elevation quickly began declining around her. She coughed through the smoke and cracked open one eye, ignoring the stinging of the smoke as her eyes watered.

The bomb had been a small one, and had only destroyed the birds wing and tail, which had in turn reduced it to a enormous pile of wet clay. Without its wing to hold it up in the air, it was now hurling to the green forest below them at an alarming speed.

"Deidara!" Sakura called through the loud wind around them. She turned to her side to see Deidara knocked out cold with a thick and bloody wound on his forehead. It was clear that since Deidara had been standing, and Sakura had been sitting during the explosion, Deidara had been impacted more by its effects.

Sakura began to panic as the ground was approaching closer and closer. She laid down on her stomach while hooking her arm around Deidara's torso, then shoved her arm inside of the warm, wet clay. She knew that the bird was very thick and well made with the clay, and hoped that it would be enough to cushion their landing.

Sakura closed her eyes tight and held onto Deidara's unconscious body tightly. After what seemed like a split second of falling, they finally made impact. The bird fell through the thick trees, hitting every branch and trunk on the way down. Leaves and switches whipped against Sakura's back as they continued to hit every obstacle to the ground, but Sakura kept her eyes closed tight and her grip around Deidara did not budge an inch.

After what seemed like endless trees and whipping against her burning back, the bird finally made impact with the hard forest ground. At impact, the clay scattered all over the trees and earth, resulting in what looked like a clay explosion on the forest floor. Sakura and Deidara were both covered in the thick, ceramic smelling clay.

Although the landing had been rough and her back burned from the gashes of the trees, it was what she had hoped for in terms of the clay landing their fall. She quickly gathered her thoughts and opened her eyes, looking to Deidara to see if he had overcome the fall like she had.

He was still out cold, but breathing, and did not seem to have any injuries from the fall other than a large gash on his cheek from the tree limbs. It oozed blood down his sweaty, blank face.

Sakura struggled against the thick, strong smelling clay. She knew that it was a very high possibility that the sound would have witnessed something as large as Deidara's bird falling to the ground at full speed, and knew she would have to get Deidara and herself out before they found their location.

Once she fought herself out of the sticky, wet clay, she turned to Deidara and felt her stomach drop when she realized that his legs were stuck inside of the birds head. The thick clay seemed as if it were melted on him up to his waist.

Sakura, grabbing Deidara by his arms, struggled as she weakly pulled him against the stickiness of the clay. She knew that she needed to heal herself, and that her body was weaker because of the fall, but could not rest until Deidara was out of the sticky mess. She pulled on his arms as hard as she could, grunting and panting, until she was finally able to free him from sticky prison. Although she had succeeded in freeing him, Deidara was still completely unconscious, which made him dead weight. She knew that she would not be able to carry him far in her current condition.

Once he was completely out of the birds clay remains, she collapsed on the rough ground below her. She panted hard, trying to catch her breath, but unable to. She wasn't sure how far away they had flied from the compound, or how far away they had crashed into the forest. She wasn't sure if anyone else had made it out. Hell, she wasn't sure if Deidara would even wake up…and she didn't have the strength to heal him. Even now her chakra was quickly depleting from her injuries.

She was alone.

"Well, what do we have here?" A rigid voice spoke amusingly a few feet away from her. She did not recognize the voice as anyone from the Akatsuki, which could only mean one thing.

She slowly inclined her head until her eyes met the eyes of the voice's owner. Just as she had expected, it was a sound ninja. Her prediction about how the fall would draw attention was correct. And now she was alone, with her unconscious teammate, sitting before three sound nina. He was tall, with a buzz cut, and a white chest opened shirt accompanied by black trousers. Two other ninja stood behind him, one male and one female, and they both wore masks so their faces were hidden. The tall buzz cut ninja smiled down at her as if he were a hunter gazing at his prey. She was the prey.

"Looks like you've been through quite a bit," the man spoke. Sakura did not respond. She did not have the breath to even try. She felt a puddle of blood accumulating underneath her. She realized immediately that it was her own.

"How should we kill this one, Taito?" The woman amusingly asked him, "I wasn't even aware they had another woman in the group."

The buzz cut shinobi, Taito, grinned. "Who cares? Its not our mission to learn everything about them," he replied blankly, "Its our mission to eliminate them."

Taito smiled down at her darkly as he slowly walked over and bent down to where he was only a few inches away from Sakura. His eyes were a deep gold, and they bore into Sakura's tired emerald ones.

"Sorry, sweetie, but you can't be allowed to live, no matter how pretty you are," Taito mocked her as he lifted his hands to wrap around her neck. "You've got some pretty bad wounds there, I see. You've got blood all over the place. Probably getting dizzy from the blood loss,"

He was right, of course, and Sakura knew this. It was the only reason as to why she would be feeling so weak at the moment.

"Lets make this easy, alright? Be still and take it. Then we'll kill your friend next."

Just as Taito was touching Sakura's neck to wrap his slender fingers around, Sakura's vision suddenly turned red. She could not explain what caused her to feel the sudden burst of energy, the only way to explain it was desperation.

Sakura blacked out as she instead grabbed Taito's wrists and jerked them away from her neck. Taito was utterly confused, and very agitated, at her unwillingness to cooperate. With a sudden pump of adrenaline, Sakura felt as if the next moment had moved in slow motion. She pulled back her fist, and with all the chakra she could muster inside one punch, she struck Taito directly in the nose.

Sakura did not remember attacking Taito so viciously, but she did remember afterwards. Her fist was lodged within Taito's skull, and had shoved its way clean through the back of his head. The broken skull of Taito's head broke into pieces and Sakura could feel a squishy, almost meaty substance, resting on her bare hand.

It was then that she realized it was his brain.

The sound kunoichi screamed in terror as Sakura quickly withdrew her fist from broken skull that used to be Taito's head. Taito's corpse fell back from Sakura, landing on his back with his knees bend inwards. Sakura trembled in horror as she looked at her bare hand, coated in sticky blood with large pieces of what looked like uncooked meat, plastered in between her fingers and her palm. She was in complete shock at what she had just done; She did not even acknowledge that she cut open her knuckles during the blow, and that her own bones were visible through the destroyed skin.

"You bitch!" The scream came from the female, and before Sakura was even able to look to her, she felt herself being tackled to the ground, her back hitting the hard earth and digging into her gashes.

The masked girl pulled back her fist and struck Sakura, immediately causing her lip to bust and blood to fill her mouth. She then dug her bony knee into Sakura's ribs, until she dug so far that two of her ribs broke, the bone breaking sound filled the air between them.

Sakura opened her mouth and let out a scream she did not recognize as hers, until the girl forcedly covered her mouth with her hand. She pinched her nose with her thumb so that she could not breath, and Sakura began clawing at the kunoichi hand so she would release her. Her hand was slippery with the mixture of Taito's blood and her own.

It did nothing. The kunoichi smiled through her mask down at Sakura who was quickly beginning to lose her breath. "You killed Taito, you stupid bitch!" The girl screamed angrily, "The likes of you don't deserve to live!"

She jerked her head away from Sakura, towards the other ninja who seemed to be hesitant about helping her. "Kidamaru! What the hell are you standing around for?! Kill the other one!" She demanded as she nodded her head towards Deidara.

The ninja quickly nodded, as if he had just waited for her precise orders, and pulled a kunai out from his holster. He quickly paced over to Deidara, who was still unconscious and did not give off any hints as to if he were going to wake up, and knelt down next to him. Sakura struggled as the ninja took Deidara's collar into his hand and lifted his head up to meet his.

The girl laughed manically as she dug her knee into Sakura's broken ribs, causing Sakura to scream a muffled cry, "Watch as your friend dies, you whore!"

This was it. Sakura was too weak. They were going to kill Deidara in front of her and then she would be next. She was too weak. Again. She couldn't save Deidara or Kisame, just like she couldn't save Sasuke. They were all dead because she was too weak. A tear ran down Sakura's cheek as her vision suddenly began to fade from her cut air supply.

Suddenly, as Sakura closed her eyes, she felt the weight of the kunoichi being lifted off of her. Her nose and mouth were released, which resulted in a sudden inhaling of oxygen. Sakura gasped and coughed, trying to fill her lungs back up with the precious air that she needed. Her body ached as her chest began moving up and down from her breathing, her arms, back and ribs burned from all the unhealed damages.

Her ears rang eerily when she heard the ear piercing scream that belonged to the sound kunoichi that had been on top of her just a moment ago. What had happened to her?

She weakly shifted her head over to Deidara who was beside her, fully prepared to take in the sight of the dead Akatsuki member. However, she felt a smile curl at her lips when she realized that Deidara was still breathing. She did not know why she was feeling so overjoyed. She barely knew him. She just knew that she did not want anyone else to die. Not because of her. Even if they were barely a stranger.

Above Deidara, the dancing of blue cloaked chakra strings danced followed by the rickety sounds of old puppets.

It did not take a genius for Sakura to figure out that Sasori had been the one to save Deidara, but if he had saved Deidara…who had saved her?

Almost at that exact moment, the screaming stopped. The puppets stopped. All was silent and all that was left was the chirping of birds. _Eerie_, she thought. Why would birds be chirping happily when so many had died today?

She felt herself being lifted off the ground. Her body ached from the sudden movement, but she did not have the strength left in her to cry. She felt herself being pressed against a firm chest, and was greeted with the familiar black and red cloak.

"She is alive," The voice was muffled as Sakura could feel her hearing begin to go out. "We made it in time, but I believe she has some broken bones and is fading from blood loss." The voice was not panicked, but it had a ragged edge to it.

"We need to get her to…" Her hearing had faded before she could hear the other response. A ringing filled her head as she looked up towards the person who was holding her. She lifted her face to meet dark crimson eyes staring back at her, black tomoes spinning rapidly. Sakura's head may have been swimming, but it was clear she was staring into the sharingan.

She felt herself getting very tired as she stared into the red abyss. She so desperately wanted to reach up and touch the face those eyes belonged to, but she could not lift her arm. Rather than trying to move, she simply smiled, and before the name could even register in her mind, she mumbled softly, but very audibly:

"Sasuke…"

As her eyes completely closed and her mind began to drift, she could feel her heart begin to hurt again. Sasuke wasn't holding her. Sasuke was dead. And those sharingan eyes did not belong to him, but to somebody else.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was over 10,000 words. I had no intention of having this chapter be so long, but I just found that when i started, i couldn't stop. I hope you guys enjoyed it just as much as i did.**


	12. Important Notice

**A/N:** I am so sorry that it gave you a notification of a new chapter uploaded. Unfortunately, I do not have a chapter for you at the moment, but I do have an important message that I need to deliver to the followers and fans of this story.

_The Crimson Blossom _is being put on a hiatus for a while. There are many different reasons for this, I will share the top two with you.

1) For the amount of time and effort I am putting into each new chapter, I am not receiving enough evidence that it is being read and/or appreciated. Seriously, I am not kidding when I say that I worked on the last chapter for a week, staying up a little later to write, edit and review the chapter so I could get a satisfying chapter out to all my readers. However, as hard as I worked on that chapter, I only received three reviews that gave me any type of feedback at all. Please do not mistake this as upsetting me, I try not to base my stories on reviews, however, I feel as though this story is not catching enough interest and enjoyment that matches the amount of effort I am putting into it. If it is not being appreciated like I would like it to be, I would rather spend that time and effort writing something that will be.

2) I have other ideas for stories that are begging to be written. However, I do not want to work on more than two stories at a time. Seeing as I am also working on _The Trouble With Love_, and its popularity has been increasing with each new chapter, _The Crimson Blossom _was the story I would have to let go…temporarily.

Don't misunderstand me when I say that I am placing it on a hiatus. I do not have any intention of discontinuing it; I still have it in my mindset that I will **complete** this story with a satisfying ending. So, rather, think of it as I am just taking a break from the story and placing it on hold…putting it in the drawer of my desk for a later date…placing it on the back burner for a while…whichever analogy you would like to go with, it all means the same. I will come back to finish it. However, I cannot say at the moment when I will come back to it. It could be weeks…months…even a year or more. It will be placed on hiatus until further notice.

I am so sorry if this upsets or bothers anyone…I really thought about the choice, and decided it would be best at the moment. I will be finishing up _The Trouble With Love _during the hiatus and possibly starting a new fic, possibly called _Trepidation _(I'm still experimenting with the title) so that will be coming down the pike soon as well. Remember that this does** not** mean I'm discontinuing! Just taking a break!

As always, your support and reviews are appreciated, however, I do not have room for negativity on my profile or stories. Your opinions are kindly appreciated, but be aware that if you are going to go out of your way to write a negative review, they will be ignored and deleted immediately. And, also depending on the intensity of the review, your profile may be blocked as well. There is a difference between politely expressing your opinion and being an asshole. I hope my decision is respected and once I feel that it is time to bring this story back, I can promise I will make a very satisfying comeback for you all!

Thank you for supporting _The Crimson Blossom_!


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